When a business first opens, it must first have invested in building the capacity necessary to deliver the goods or services it intends to sell to customers before it begins to generate revenue. Critical Mass Understanding Critical Mass. IDIOM Critical mass. Critical sentence examples. For any finite thickness, this corresponds to an infinite mass. Steady revenues have allowed Company XYZ to invest in more capital and bring on additional hands. I didn't expect the critical infrastructure to disintegrate so fast. However, as the typical linear dimensions are not significantly larger than the mean free path, such an approximation is only marginally applicable. For example, an innovative new product needs a number of initial customers to review the product and get the word out before they can be … A theoretical 100% pure 239Pu weapon could also be constructed as a gun-type weapon, like the Manhattan Project's proposed Thin Man design. The critical mass of thinking on foreign policy facilitated bipartisan support and helped to launch thoughtful and complex treaties that had a major impact on international politics. ≃ Critical Mass is a superstar strain that has been used for thousands of hybridisation sessions. For example, if an employee who makes co-workers of the opposite sex uncomfortable makes unwanted sexual advances toward the chief financial officer, the situation is said to have reached critical mass, and the employee must immediately be disciplined or fired. This is their critical mass on side of the restaurant. In any case, criticality then depends upon a typical neutron "seeing" an amount of nuclei around it such that the areal density of nuclei exceeds a certain threshold. 494. When a new idea is being introduced into a group of people, even if many think the idea is good, they will be loathe to adopt the idea until they are persuaded that others are moving, then their is a rush to adopt the idea. A company that sustains profitability is able to exist safely and reliably above its critical mass. When companies reach critical mass, their leaders may face a decision whether to seek... Special Considerations. 2. 2. = Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire: Learn how and when to remove this template message, Reevaluated Critical Specifications of Some Los Alamos Fast-Neutron Systems, Final Report, Evaluation of nuclear criticality safety data and limits for actinides in transport, Troubles tomorrow? Increased business does not automatically generate higher profits. However, critical mass in marketing requires a very different product – users – to ensure a “chain reaction” of sales. The amount of fissile material needed to support a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. The effect is a slow start until a critical mass is reached, then a runaway snowball effect takes place. Sometimes I’m intrigued by what I call critical mass problems, meaning businesses based on ideas that work only if masses of users adopt them. If the term critical mass sounds like it came straight out of a science fiction novel, you’d be right. While critical mass can be applied to many different aspects of sociodynamics, it becomes increasingly applicable to innovations in interactive media such as the telephone, fax, or email. The calculation of critical mass has an explanatory simple equation. σ ρ Σ The term critical mass is borrowed from nuclear physics, where it refers to the smallest mass that can sustain a nuclear reaction at a constant level. Critical mass. which clearly recovers the aforementioned result that critical mass depends inversely on the square of the density. Define critical mass. 35+1 sentence examples: 1. Critical Mass Video Announces Feb. 5, 2013 DVD Release of Debts of Desire (Nov 7, 2012) Other articles: Show: 0 +4 unverified. So long as other loss mechanisms are not significant, then, the radius of a spherical critical mass is rather roughly given by the product of the mean free path M The reason why Critical Mass attracts mad respect is because it’s a super-yielding strain that develops an abundance of nugs in no time. s Find more ways to say critical mass, along with related words, antonyms and example phrases at Thesaurus.com, the world's most trusted free thesaurus. The paradox of thrift posits that individual savings rather than spending can worsen a recession or that individual savings can be collectively harmful. Example of Critical Mass. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. s TV via internet could only be developed once a critical mass of households had broadband access. Many companies have collapsed after expanding too quickly and spending more than the new business brought in. The term critical mass is borrowed from nuclear physics, where it refers to the smallest mass that can sustain a nuclear reaction at a constant level. s = The company must grow to the point that it can repay its initial investors for the capital they have provided as well as bring in enough money to function without additional investment. However, criticality is only achieved once the thickness of this slab exceeds a critical value. n Another word for critical mass. 342. Critical Mass is a core concept for building a competitive software startup, and it is best explored by direct comparison against an older model. Its size depends on several factors, including the kind of fissile material used, its concentration and purity, and the composition and geometry of the surrounding reaction system. Once these elements reach the size that enables a company to operate efficiently, it is said that a company has reached its critical mass. 1 This is known as an implosion type weapon. Finally, note that the calculation can also be performed by assuming a continuum approximation for the neutron transport. Indeed, sophisticated nuclear weapons programs can make a functional device from less material than more primitive weapons programs require. This however creates a value that is often a lot less than most would think and so we hence have this problem. Critical mass is the point at which a company becomes profitable. The smallest mass of a fissionable material that will sustain a nuclear chain reaction at a constant level. This article is about nuclear fission reactions. In Little Boy, this was achieved by firing a piece of uranium (a 'doughnut') down a gun barrel onto another piece (a 'spike'). A bottleneck is a point of congestion in a production system that occurs when workloads arrive at a point more quickly than that point can handle them. 273. {\displaystyle 1={\frac {f\sigma }{m{\sqrt {s}}}}\rho ^{2/3}M^{1/3}}. The sample must exceed a critical mass before an explosion results. Initially the fumes appear black, then gradually you are able to see through them without any trouble. Shelf Life - Squash Knives (Dec 8, 2008) • Some thing or things have to happen for a microbe to escape its previously harmless ecological niche and reach critical mass. Critical theory is a type of philosophy that aims to critique society, social structures, and systems of power, and to foster egalitarian social change. 3 By using Investopedia, you accept our. For example, for a bare solid sphere of 239Pu criticality is at 320 kg/m2, regardless of density, and for 235U at 550 kg/m2. When these fragments are suddenly brought together, an atomic explosion results immediately. Aside from the math, there is a simple physical analog that helps explain this result. Several uncertainties contribute to the determination of a precise value for critical masses, including (1) detailed knowledge of fission cross sections, (2) calculation of geometric effects. Critical mass is the point at which a growing company becomes self-sustaining, and no longer needs additional investment to remain economically viable. {\displaystyle \ell } The event of fission must release, on the average, more than one free neutron of the desired energy level in order to sustain a chain reaction, and each must find other nuclei and cause them to fission. 55 / 5k. Learn critical mass with free interactive flashcards. ℓ At that point, XYZ becomes profitable, and the company is said to have reached its critical mass because its capital and human resources have reached a size at which they can sustain themselves. In terms of the total mass M, the nuclear mass m, the density ρ, and a fudge factor f which takes into account geometrical and other effects, criticality corresponds to, 1 Choose from 116 different sets of critical mass flashcards on Quizlet. 3. In the case of a uranium bomb, this can be achieved by keeping the fuel in a number of separate pieces, each below the critical size either because they are too small or unfavorably shaped. The best example in my lifetime was the fax machine. m This is not because the total scattering cross section of all the soot particles has changed, but because the soot has dispersed. It takes place when economies of scale no longer function. Detonation is produced by exploding a shaped charge surrounding the sphere, increasing the density (and collapsing the cavity, if present) to produce a prompt critical configuration. When these conditions have been met, the company has reached critical mass. 4. For other uses, see. See more. 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