Relativistic Energy: Calculate Decay Product Kinetic Energy

Aeighme
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Homework Statement


A radium isotope decays to a radon isotope by emitting an α particle (a helium nucleus) according to the decay scheme 226Ra --> 222Rn + 4He. The masses of the atoms are 226.0254 u (226Ra), 222.0176 u (222Rn), and 4.0026 u (4He). What is the total kinetic energy of the decay products (in MeV)?

Homework Equations


E0=mc2
E=gamma*mc2
K=gamma*mc2-mc2
E=K+E0
1u=931.494 (MeV)/c2

The Attempt at a Solution


I really don't know what to do for this...
 
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Please help!
This concept is confusing for me and once I understand this, it will make the rest of my problems much easier to solve.
 
well...how much more massive is the input (radium), than the output (Radon and a Helium nucleus)...I'm not sure if you are confused by the notation, the 4He should be one helium nucleus with 4 nucleons.

~Lyuokdea
 
Aeighme said:
Please help!
This concept is confusing for me and once I understand this, it will make the rest of my problems much easier to solve.

calm down, wait more than 13minutes before bumping thread :-)
 
<< complete solution deleted by berkeman >>
 
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