A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or biproduct causes more additional reactions.
Examples:
- The neutron-fission chain reaction: a neutron plus a fissionable atom causes a fission resulting in a larger number of neutrons than was consumed in the initial reaction.
- Chemical reactions, where a product of a reaction is itself a reactive particle which can cause more similar reactions. For example, every step of H2 + Cl2 chain reaction consumes one molecule of H2 or Cl2, one free radical H· or Cl· producing one HCl molecule and another free radical.
See also
