Exoergic Nuclear Reaction: Calculating Mass-to-Energy Conversion Percentage

[NikkiNik]

Homework Statement

In the following exoergic nuclear reaction,

12D + 13T &rarr 01n + 24He

what percentage of the initial mass is converted into energy?

Homework Equations

(mA +ma)- (mB-mB) =delta m

delta m * u(MeV) = E

The Attempt at a Solution

I'm not sure how to do sub and super scripts but 12D would be deuterium. Anyway I calculted the masses and got (mA+ma)5.03u for the first and (mB+Mb)5.011 for the second. To get the % of the mass converted to energy I divided mb+mB/mA+mA and got 99.6%. A I doing it correctly...(even if I calculated the masses incorrectly)

 

[tms]

The number you got, 99.6% (assuming the masses and the arithmetic are right), is the percentage of the original mass *not* converted to energy.