co Concept Questions During a nuclear reaction, whether it is a fission
reaction or a fusion reaction, energy is released. (a) Is the total mass of
the particles after the reaction greater than, equal to, or less than the
total mass of the particles before the reaction? (b) How is this difference in
total mass related to the energy released by the reaction?
Problem In one type of fusion reaction a proton fuses with a neutron to form a
deuterium nucleus plus a \(\gamma\) -ray photon: \({ }_{1}^{1} \mathrm{H}+{
}_{0}^{1} \mathrm{n} \rightarrow{ }_{1}^{2} \mathrm{H}+\gamma .\) The masses
are \({ }_{1}^{1} \mathrm{H}\)
\((1.0078 \mathrm{u}),{ }_{0}^{1} \mathrm{n}(1.0087 \mathrm{u})\), and \({
}_{1}^{2} \mathrm{H}(2.0141 \mathrm{u})\). The \(\gamma\) -ray photon is
massless. How
much energy (in MeV) is released by this reaction?