Why proton is not used in nuclear reactions only neutron is used ?
Answers
Answer:
“Protons are particles with an electric charge. Their electrostatic force always wants to push protons apart from each other, and that force only gets stronger the closer you put the protons together. Neutrons, on the other hand, have no electric charge and therefore cannot feel this force.”
For most of the Actinide isotopes the proton needs to be going very fast to cause fission, but for the four identified above the proton only has to be going fast enough to overcome the electrostatic repulsion effect, sometimes referred too as the Coulomb Barrier.
Neutrons are the only things that can lead to fission chain reactions since when nuclei fission, they often emit one to a few neutrons in addition to the two new nuclei they break up into, and these neutrons can cause additional fissions and so on.