Mass Energy Equivalence
Mass Energy Equivalence :- From his special theory of relativity, Einstein showed that it is necessary to treat mass as another form of energy. According to this theory mass can be converted into energy and vice-versa.
Mass Energy Equivalence relation(equation) :- If rest mass of an object is m, then Einstein defines the energy E of a particle as the product of mass (m) with the speed of light squared (c2), i.e.,
E = mc2
Here c is the velocity of light in vacuum. As speed of light is very large (approximately 3×108 meters per second), the formula implies that a small amount of rest mass corresponds to an enormous amount of energy, which is independent of the composition of the matter.
Application of Mass Energy Equivalence in nuclear physics
The nuclear binding energy is the energy that is needed to dismantle the core of an atom into its constituent particles(nucleons). The mass of a nucleus is not exactly the sum of masses of all the nucleons but it is less than that.
The difference between the two masses(Δm) is known as the mass defect and the energy corresponding to this mass defect(E = Δmc2) is the energy which binds the nucleons together in the nucleus.
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