Thermal neutron (source code)

= Thermal neutron

A thermal <neutron> belongs to a population approximately in <thermal equilibrium> with its surroundings. Such a population has a distribution of <kinetic energies>, not one fixed <energy>. The scale $k_B T$ uses the <Boltzmann constant> and <thermodynamic temperature>; it is about $0.0259\,\mathrm{eV}$ at $300\,\mathrm K$. The mean translational <kinetic energy> for a classical three-dimensional equilibrium population is $3k_B T/2$. Not every <slow neutron> has reached this equilibrium.