Is it possible to cause a carbon 14 atom to release a neutron and thus change to carbon 13 atom from a glancing colission of a neutron which is not captured by the carbon 14 nucleus ? I am asking because I was trying to answer a question about the energy required to make a carbon 14 atom release a neutron . So , I was wondering if it was possible to cause a carbon 14 atom to release a neutron through neutron bombardment . Someone else answered the question by finding the energy to break the carbon 14 atom into its free
protons and neutrons . This seams like overkill to me .
I would guess that it is possible to get the carbon 14 atom
to release a single neutron .