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leonne
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Homework Statement
The explosive fusion occurs in several steps, but the ultimate result is that carbon
is fused into nickel Assuming that the entire white dwarf
is carbon that fuses to nickel, show that the energy released in the explosion
overcomes the gravitational potential energy, thus blowing apart the star.
Homework Equations
U~-GM2/R
The Attempt at a Solution
Ok so iI found how much energy you get when u fuse carbon to nickel 280Mev. Not sure what to do from here. I found the efficiency to be .0018 and was thinking of using
E(nuclear)=eMc2 Would this be the energy released?
Than I just set the energy released = to the grav potential energy right?
Thanks for the help