Equation Needed to Figure Resulting Kinetic Energy and Velocities from Fusion

  • #1
Equation Needed to Figure Resulting Kinetic Energy and Velocities from Fusion...

Homework Statement



Hey,
I am have the initial velocities and masses of nuclei involved in fusion, and am trying to figure out the resulting velocities and kinetic energies. Since this is an inelastic reaction, i can't use Kinetic energy, as it is not conserved. I have the conservation of momentum to use, because it is conserved, but to use it I still need to find velocity. What could i use to find this? Also, if you could clarify how to find the kinetic energies for each resulting particle, it would be greatly appreciated!


Homework Equations



Deuterium+Deuterium--> Helium-3 + neutron
each deuteron has K.E. of 69.91 KeV, and a velocity of 2.59 x 10^6 m/s

The Attempt at a Solution


I have already decided that the Law of Conservation of Momentum would be a good equation to use, but i still need an equation to get velocity.


Note: This is not a Homework question, per se. It was simply moved here.
 
  • #2


Well... the total energy [tex]E = \sqrt{p^2 c^2 + m^2 c^4}[/tex] is conserved, you should be able to use that. You'll probably need to look up the rest masses of helium-3 and of the neutron but I don't think they'd be hard to find online.
 

Suggested for: Equation Needed to Figure Resulting Kinetic Energy and Velocities from Fusion

Back
Top