Wednesday 18 November 2015

nuclear physics - How does rest mass become energy?


I know that there's a difference between relativistic and rest mass. Relativistic mass is "acquired" when an object is moving at speeds comparable to the speed of light. Rest mass is the inherent mass that something has regardless of the speed its moving at.


When fusion happens, a certain percentage of the rest mass of two hydrogen atoms is converted into energy. I understand that $E = m_{rest}c^2$.


How does the rest mass of an object turn into energy? Does this involve particle physics? Doesn't this suggest that rest mass can be viewed as some sort of potential energy? It seems to me that it's a sort of locked energy that has to undergo a certain process to expel its energy to surrounding particles.


Also, Why does only a small percentage of rest mass turn into energy? Why not all of it. What dictates how much rest mass gets converted into energy?




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