Why/How does fission produce energy?

Question

1. Does fission produce energy because:

I. E = mc^2. Some of the product is converted into energy, and hence "mass defect".

II. Resulting energy from reaction > required energy to start reaction.

or both?

2. Could you explain how so little mass is converted into an abundance of energy due to E = mc^2?

3. Does mass of reactants = mass of product + energy?

rcjh · Accepted Answer

1. II is the result of I.

2. A tiny amount of mass can produce a lot of energy because the speed of light (c) is a big number squared. c^2 ~ 9*10^16
That means nanograms of mass will may still create 100's of megajoules of energy.

3. Mass of the reactants is just the mass, not the energy associated with the mass.

4. Yup

Why/How does fission produce energy?

Trending Questions