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Chapter 33: Problem 8

Is matter converted to energy in a nuclear reactor? In a burning candle? In your body?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Yes, matter is converted to energy in a nuclear reactor according to Einstein's equation E=mc^2. No, matter is not directly converted to energy in a burning candle or in a human body; instead, it undergoes various chemical reactions changing from one form to another.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding Scenario 1: Nuclear Reactor

A nuclear reactor produces energy through a process called nuclear fission. In nuclear fission, the nucleus of a heavy atom, such as uranium or plutonium, is split into two or more smaller nuclei, along with a few neutrons and a large amount of energy. According to Einstein's equation, E=mc^2, where E is energy, m is mass, and c is the speed of light, the loss of mass in this process is converted directly into energy.
02

Understanding Scenario 2: Burning Candle

A burning candle produces energy through a process called combustion. The wax (composed of carbon and hydrogen) is reacted with oxygen in the air to produce heat, light, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. In this chemical reaction, the matter is neither created nor destroyed, it is merely converted from one form to another; hence, the matter is not directly converted into energy.
03

Understanding Scenario 3: Human Body

The human body generates energy through various metabolic processes. Food consumed is broken down into simpler substances, which cells then use to produce energy needed to perform functions. This process is a complex series of chemical reactions, in which the matter is neither created nor destroyed but changes forms; hence, similar to the burning candle scenario, matter is not directly converted to energy.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

The Curiosity rover touched down on Mars when Earth and Mars were 14 light- minutes apart. At the instant of touchdown, clocks at Mission Control in Pasadena, California, read 10: 31 PM. As judged by observers on a spacecraft heading along the Earth Mars line at \(0.35 c,\) did touchdown occur before or after the time the clocks in Pasadena read \(10: 31 \mathrm{PM}\), and by how much?

Twins \(A\) and \(B\) live on Earth. On their 20 th birthday, twin \(B\) climbs into a spaceship and makes a round-trip journey at \(0.95 c\) to a star 30 light years distant, as measured in the Earth-star reference frame. What are their ages when twin B returns to Earth?

At what speed are a particle's kinetic and rest energies equal?

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Use the Lorentz transformations to show that if two events are separated in space and time so that a light signal leaving one event cannot reach the other, then there is an observer for whom the two events are simultancous. Show that the converse is also true: If a light signal can get from one event to the other, then no observer will find them simultaneous.
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