Heisenberg's critical mass calculations for an explosive nuclear reaction

摘要

Based on the declassified records of Heisenberg's Farm-Hall "lecture", we are attempting in the present work to follow Heisenberg's thoughts and results and show in a more transparent way how he arrived at his surprisingly quite accurate estimation of the critical mass of a reflected U235 sphere undergoing explosive neutrons fission. We conclude with a discussion regarding the contraversy concerning the so-called German Uranium bomb and the role played by Heisenberg. and C.F. von Weizsacker in this connection during and after the war. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. [References: 10]