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I don't quite understand what mass is lost. I thought fusion involved overcoming the electrostatic forces to get two protons close enough that they are pulled t
by slavik81 9y ago
I don't quite understand what mass is lost. I thought fusion involved overcoming the electrostatic forces to get two protons close enough that they are pulled together by a nuclear force, thus releasing the nuclear potential energy. But, you start with two protons, and you end with two protons, so what's the mass that's converted to energy?
- slavik81 9y agoApparently I was mistaken. They don't just make a weird hydrogen isotope. They make plain-old hydrogen. 4 protons become 2 protons and 2 neutrons. The difference in mass between a proton and a neutron is 2.3×10^-30 kg. So, naively, you'd generate 4.1×10^-13 J per helium atom. Or, roughly 11 GJ (3 Mwh) per litre of helium at STP. Seems a little low, though I suppose 1L is only 1/5th of a gram of helium. I still might be missing something, too.