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nuclear fusion


james-p

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okay, so I'm doing a science fair project on nuclear fusion but i don't understand how by combining 2 atoms the mass will be inferior to the initial mass and that their will be a creation of energy.

thanks for your help.

James

(i corrected you're spelling errors because all the red under lines were a little distracting)

are you asking why the atoms loose mass? or how the lost mass= energy?

ps. what kind of science fair project i thought science fair projects were supposed to be experimental

*nuclear boy scout alert!!!!* *nuclear boy scout alert!!!!*

Edited by dragonstar57
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ok, so im doing a science faire project on nuclear fusion but i dont undderstand how by combining 2 atoms the mass will be inferior to the initial mass and that their will be a creation of energy.

thanks for your help.

james

Well, they go together. The mass is converted into energy, so a decrease in mass corresponds to a creation in energy.

 

But to be simple, the energy in two hydrogen nuclei is greater than the energy in one helium nucleus, so the spare energy goes somewhere.

 

You might try to skim this:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion

 

(i corrected you're spelling errors because all the red under lines were a little distracting)

are you asking why the atoms loose mass? or how the lost mass= energy?

ps. what kind of science fair project i thought science fair projects were supposed to be experimental

*nuclear boy scout alert!!!!* *nuclear boy scout alert!!!!*

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law

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The strong force that binds the nucleus together is very short-ranged, but the electromagnetic repulsion from the protons has a larger range and opposes it. The optimum is iron, and anything either heavier or lighter can gain energy by fusion or fission that moves it closer to iron.

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Fusion or fission energy state is related to nuclear stability. Unstable big atom is divided into small stable atoms, and we state it fission. Unstable small atoms are combined into more big stable atom, and we state the phenomena fusion.

 

No, not so much. Fusion works for stable atoms (H-2 fusing to become He-4, for example; both are stable), and fission really doesn't have a lot to do with instability. Spontaneous fission requires an unstable nucleus, but that's true of any spontaneous reaction. Pb-208 would release energy were it to undergo fission, as would a whole host of stable heavy nuclei. It's all about the mass difference between the starting nucleus and the products, from the strength of binding of the nucleus.

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(i corrected you're spelling errors because all the red under lines were a little distracting)

are you asking why the atoms loose mass? or how the lost mass= energy?

ps. what kind of science fair project i thought science fair projects were supposed to be experimental

*nuclear boy scout alert!!!!* *nuclear boy scout alert!!!!*

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muphry%27s_law

which is worse two errors or five?

i corrected the op's errors because when I went to quote them there was so many red underlines .

at least i put my comment through spell check before i posted it.

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which is worse two errors or five?

i corrected the op's errors because when I went to quote them there was so many red underlines .

at least i put my comment through spell check before i posted it.

I think it's silly to correct someone's errors while making errors yourself.

 

Try this:

 

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

 

The first one is applicable.

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I think it's silly to correct someone's errors while making errors yourself.

 

Try this:

 

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

 

The first one is applicable.

Some errors can be corrected by spell check some can't.

It should be unacceptable to make an error that could be fixed by spell check (with the exception of on a irc channel l) .

homophone errors are more understandable.

Edited by dragonstar57
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Some errors can be corrected by spell check some can't.

It should be unacceptable to make an error that could be fixed by spell check (with the exception of on a irc Chanel) .

homophone errors are more understandable.

One would think that homophone errors would be less acceptable since spelling errors might simply be typographical accidents whereas homophone mixups imply a lack of education.

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That's because you edited your post to fix it, after I quoted it.

And after I quoted it. Is it more likely that two people would modify quotes intending to deceive, or is it more likely that the edit timestamped after both Cap'n's post and my own was the one intended to deceive?

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One would think that homophone errors would be less acceptable since spelling errors might simply be typographical accidents whereas homophone mixups imply a lack of education.

spelling errors imply being too lazy to use spell check while a homophone error could just be someone who was typing to fast and made a mistake.

and even if someone has awful spelling/grammar the least they can do is spell check

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Most browsers have automatic real time spell check.

and you would have to be very lazy to ignore all the red underlines...

whereas homophone errors are not marked...

(I suspect that if we continue this grammar conversation on this physics thread a mod is going to say something...)

Edited by dragonstar57
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(i corrected you're spelling errors because all the red under lines were a little distracting)

are you asking why the atoms loose mass? or how the lost mass= energy?

ps. what kind of science fair project i thought science fair projects were supposed to be experimental

*nuclear boy scout alert!!!!* *nuclear boy scout alert!!!!*

 

 

I am asking how the atoms loose mass and how it is converted into energy. Thanks.

 

 

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I am asking how the atoms loose mass and how it is converted into energy. Thanks.

 

Mass is a form of energy. The conversion is from one form of energy to another. When nuclei fuse exothermically, photons will be given off. That represents a reduction in energy, which means the mass has to decrease.

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what is the pressure needed for tritium and deteurium to be fused.

 

You can get a naive estimate from the electrostatic repulsion of the nuclei. But it turns out to be smaller because of quantum mechanical effects — the particles can "tunnel" through the barrier.

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