Quick questions on Nuclear energy: binding energy, fission and fusion - WJEC A-Level Physics

3short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.

What is mass-energy equivalence?

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Mass and energy are equivalent; a change in mass

\Delta m

corresponds to an energy

\Delta E = \Delta m\, c^2

. Because

c^2

is so large, even a tiny mass change releases an enormous amount of energy, which is why nuclear reactions dwarf chemical ones.

What is q1?

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A nuclear reaction has a mass defect of

3.0\times10^{-29}\,\text{kg}

. Find the energy released. Take

c = 3.0\times10^8\,\text{m s}^{-1}

What is q2?

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Explain why fusing two light nuclei releases energy. [2 marks]

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