- #1
Jimmy87
- 686
- 17
Hi,
I was wondering if there is a mechanism to explain how the strong force leads to an energy release when two light nuclei such as hydrogen fuse together. I get that the products of fusion have less mass than the reactants and that this "missing" mass is converted into energy in accordance with E=mc2. I also get that the products are more "tightly bound" and have less binding energy per nucleon. I just wondered what the mechanism was for how the strong force actually does this? If we take gravity for example, to explain why energy is released when an asteroid falls to Earth we can say that the gravitational force does work on the asteroid. How does the strong force cause this energy release/mass defect?
Thanks for any insights/info offered.
I was wondering if there is a mechanism to explain how the strong force leads to an energy release when two light nuclei such as hydrogen fuse together. I get that the products of fusion have less mass than the reactants and that this "missing" mass is converted into energy in accordance with E=mc2. I also get that the products are more "tightly bound" and have less binding energy per nucleon. I just wondered what the mechanism was for how the strong force actually does this? If we take gravity for example, to explain why energy is released when an asteroid falls to Earth we can say that the gravitational force does work on the asteroid. How does the strong force cause this energy release/mass defect?
Thanks for any insights/info offered.