Natural Science Forum / Physics / Particle Physics / May 2007

I have asked the question before, but have never received a
satisfactory answer.

I was introduced to the concept of "thermal neutron radiation" in
radiation training and while I was a student of chemistry in the
'80's. This type of radiation was defined as "neutrons that were in
thermodynamic equilibrium with their surroundings".

If neutrons can be slowed down to be in thermodynamic equilibrium with
their surroundings without capture, would not the resulting 'gas' be
subject to the gravitational force of earth, and tend to sink into the
sieve of atomic nucleus's  that they are in equilibrium with?

My question then becomes one or capture rate: will the thermal neutron
'gas' produced by our worlds nuclear reactors escape capture until
they have formed a neutron gas cloud around the gravitational center
of the planet, or will they be captured some distance below each
reactor, or is capture of these thermal neutrons fast enough that the
effect of the gravitational force is negligible on the final
distribution of capture isotopes?