Atomic Mass of Tritium Deuterium - Caveman Logic

[RADboy]

someone told me that tritium deuterium has 47 times less mass than U-235 but, tritium's atomic mass is 3 and deuterium's is 2. myself being a caveman decided to add those together to get the atomic mass of tritium deuterium. any insight this would be appreciated

 

[Astronuc]

someone told me that tritium deuterium has 47 times less mass than U-235 but, tritium's atomic mass is 3 and deuterium's is 2. myself being a caveman decided to add those together to get the atomic mass of tritium deuterium. any insight this would be appreciated

It comes down to binding energy per nucleon.

The He nucleus is pretty tightly bound. The d+t reaction produces a tightly bound alpha particle (He nucleus) + a neutron. The reaction releases 17.6 MeV, of which 3.5 MeV goes to the alpha particle and 14.1 MeV goes to the neutron.

Ah U235 nucleus absorbs a neutron, becomes U-236 in an excited state. It has probability of about 84% that it will fission and release about 170 MeV of kinetic energy in the fission products, about 5 MeV in neutrons (2 or 3), prompt gamma rays, and gamma rays and beta particles from the fission products. There is also about 10-12 MeV in neutrinos, but they are not recoverable; they just zip out of the reactor and out into space with some penetrating the Earth on their way out.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/nucbin.html#c2

 

[Drakkith]

someone told me that tritium deuterium has 47 times less mass than U-235 but, tritium's atomic mass is 3 and deuterium's is 2. myself being a caveman decided to add those together to get the atomic mass of tritium deuterium. any insight this would be appreciated

Adding together the atomic mass of D and T gives me 5.03015098, and the atomic mass of U-235 is 235.0439299. Divide that by the combined d-t mass equals 46.72701933516361371721689355734. Or about 47.