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Why does uranium-235 hexafluoride collect nearer the center of a spinning centrifuge?
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uranium processing
How uranium is enriched to make a nuclear weapon.
In a gas centrifuge used for uranium processing, the separation of isotopes occurs because of the relative centripetal forces experienced by the molecules.12
When the uranium hexafluoride (UF) gas is spun at extremely high speeds, the heavier moleculesāspecifically those containing the isotope Uāare pushed outward by these forces and accumulate along the outer walls of the centrifuge. Because the UF molecules are lighter, they are less affected by the outward force and consequently tend to concentrate near the center (or axis) of the spinning centrifuge, where they can then be siphoned off.123