Problem Formulation

State: A state is defined as the examination of the environment at any given time from time zero to the final time where the final daughter elements are determined.

U-235, before it undergoes fission, is at at state zero, but there is a probability that it will decay. When it decays, it will decay into daughter elements, which, in turn, may have a probability to decay. To determine the final daughter production of element chains starting from the initial fission of U-235, we will exam each element at different states, seeking for a point in where each element that exists in the state are stable and cannot decay further.

State Change: State changes occur when an element undergoes decay. When this occurs, a new State is defined and elements are measured. Though it only takes a single element to trigger a new State, each element is tested against the probability that it will decay.

The important questions that we ask, to determine how we should approach the simulation, are as follows:

1. What elements may exist after U-235 has undergone fission?
2. What are the probabilities that U-235 will decay into those elements?
3. How do we determine the daughter products?
4. How do we determine when we have reached the final daughter products?
5. How should we measure states, to provide the ability to look at each state?
6. What attributes are important to each element to provide meaningful data?
7. In what quantity do elements exist at each state?
8. What environmental variables should be considered?
9. How should we maintain a measure of each state?