Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles.
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions
where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions
to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a
self-amplifying chain of events. Examples of chain
reactions include:
The neutron-fission chain reaction:
a neutron plus a fissionableatom causes a fission resulting in a larger number
of neutrons than was consumed in the initial reaction. This
reaction could continue if the number of neutron produced in a
single reaction is capable of producing another fission. If not the
reaction will stop. If the number of fissions produced is more than
one then the reaction is said to be supercritical and the number of
fissions would increase exponentially. This is the
principle for an atomic bomb.
For example in a chemical reaction every step of H2 + Cl2 chain reaction
consumes one molecule of
H2 or Cl2, one free radical H· or Cl·
producing one HCl molecule and another free
radical.
A cascading failure, a failure in a
system of interconnected parts, for example a power transmission grid,
where the service provided depends on the operation of a preceding
part, and the failure of a preceding part can trigger the failure
of successive parts.
Wikis
Quiz
Search