quote:
Originally posted by Lastseer:
From what I understand the loss of mass in a nuclear reaction is converted directly to energy at E=mc^2. That is party what makes a nuclear explosion so powerful. When the nucleous is split (where talking fission) here the resulting smaller nucleii don't add up to the same mass. The rest is pure energy. Of course this is usually a small fraction of the original critical mass. (btw this is usually on the order of fractions of grams if I remember correctly).
That is why anti-matter bombs are potentially so powerful (atleast 100's to 1000's times more powerful than nuclear fission devices). Because instead of losing a small amount of matter in the explosion you get 100% conVersion or the orignal mass (not less than 1%).
Yep, I'll buy that...its figuring exactly how much mass is lost (as energy) that is the long formula of which I spoke. Of course, I'm old & gray and don't remember much....
Spyder, Chairman of the Arachnid Consortium