Tuesday, 27 May 2025

Calculating Einstein's Equation

  In the nuclear reaction shown, a neutron (moving with negligible kinetic energy) hits a Uranium-235 nucleus. The resulting unstable nucleus  undergoes fission into Krypton-92, Barium-141, and three neutrons.

Data:
Uranium-235 mass: 390.300x10^-27 kg
Krypton-92 mass: 152.647x10^-27 kg
Barium-141 mass: 233.994x10^-27 kg
Neutron mass: 1.675x10^-27 kg

a) What is the total mass of the pieces going into the reaction?
b) What is the total mass of the pieces coming out of the reaction?
Calculate the mass difference 
Now plug in the difference into Einstein's equation