speed of light squared is around 431.277173057 (give or take) What does this speed relate to in a nuclear explosion?..Speed of the Neutrons smashing into atoms?
2006-12-14 02:33:50 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The speed of light is the absolute top limit.
the energy released in the nuclear explosion (fission) is the mass defect conversion to energy, (in fusion)its directly mass converted into energy
C^2 is just the proportionality term between mass and energy.
2006-12-14 02:59:31 · answer #1 · answered by Som™ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What are you units for speed of light? In SI units, the speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 meters per second, or about 3x10^8 m/s. The square of the speed of light would be about 9x10^16 m^2/s^2.
In the equation, E is energy, M is mass that is lost, or converted to energy and C is the speed of light. C^2 is the speed of light squared.
So the energy released in a nuclear reaction is equal to the mass that is lost times the square of the speed of light, which is a big number. This accounts for the magnitude of a nuclear detonation.
2006-12-14 11:10:29 · answer #2 · answered by David H 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in this equation the speed of light is a constant it is not used in relation to anything. it is a constant in the same right as planks constant.
2006-12-14 11:42:43 · answer #3 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋