Word: pile
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...professional play before and "they approach a play in the same manner they would a football match. If they enjoy it they stamp and whistle wildly at the end . . . They eat everything, gum, popcorn, crispies. We know the show's been a success by the size of the pile of candy wrappers left behind...
...Russians also knew, theoretically, how to build a chain-reacting pile. They were aware that such a pile would transmute Uranium 238 into a "trans-uranian element," i.e., plutonium. They realized that to generate atomic energy, either as a bomb explosion or as peaceful power, would be extremely difficult but certainly not impossible. Two Soviet scientists speculated about what "special devices" would be needed...
...varsity rehashed its Navy game, allowing Georgetown to pile up a 31 to 18 lead by the half, and failing to make a second period drive pay off. The Hoyas put two tell men on John Rockwell and Ed Smith, who have been doing most of the scoring for the varsity, and forced it to shoot from outside...
When natural uranium is put in a chain-reacting pile, its U-235 atoms start splitting and yielding energy, "fission products" and free neutrons. Some of the neutrons are needed to split more U-235 atoms and keep the reaction going. Others are absorbed by impurities or escape from the pile. The rest enter the atoms of U-238, ultimately turn them into plutonium...
...breeders, or converters, will lessen the waste, presumably by causing more neutrons to be absorbed byU-238. If the amount of plutonium or other nuclear fuel thus produced is larger than the U-235 consumed, the pile could continue in operation for a very long time. First the original U-235 would be consumed, yielding energy and plutonium made out of 11-238. Then some of the plutonium would fission, yielding energy and creating more atomic fuel. Theoretically, the process might continue until all the 11-238 is consumed. Natural uranium could yield something like 140 times as much energy...