Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: geo driver on 22/08/2011 18:04:32

Title: Does the nucleus weigh less than the sum of its constituent particles?
Post by: geo driver on 22/08/2011 18:04:32

reading through a book the other day i can across this, and i just dont understand it , why is the mass of the nucleus less than that of its parts?

Title: Re: Does the nucleus weigh less than the sum of its constituent particles?
Post by: Kryptid on 23/08/2011 04:41:09

It has to do with being in a state of lower energy.

When you fuse a proton and neutron into a deuterium nucleus, the deuterium nucleus is in a lower energy state than the individual proton and neutron. Due to Einstein's mass-energy equivalence, lower energy = lower mass. So what happens to that extra mass? It is released in the form of energy (perhaps in the form of photons, though I'm not sure of that. Could also be mesons, I guess).