CHAIN REACTION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Chain reaction

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/tʃeɪn riˈækʃən/ Listen

Chain reaction

noun

A series of chemical reactions in which the product of one is a reactant in the next.

A self-sustaining nuclear reaction; a series of nuclear fissions in which neutrons released by splitting one atom leads to the splitting of others.

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Etymology of 'Chain reaction'

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"Chain reaction" Quotes from Famous Books

... your union, acting on instructions from Harry Crandall, in re-packing the Number One Doernberg-Giardano breeder-reactor at our plant, after the plutonium and the U-238 and the neutron-source containers had been removed, in order to re-initiate a chain reaction to prevent Mr. Melroy's employees from working on the reactor?" Leighton demanded. "Am I to understand that the ...

— Day of the Moron • Henry Beam Piper

... physics, the minimum amount of fissionable material required to sustain a chain reaction. Of a software product, describes a condition of the software such that fixing one bug introduces one plus {epsilon} bugs. (This malady has many causes: {creeping featurism}, ports to too many disparate environments, poor initial design, etc.) When software achieves ...

— The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0