Asked by dallasboy

Which statement describes why energy is released in a nuclear fusion reaction based on mass-energy equivalence?

For large nuclei, the mass of the original nucleus is greater than the mass of the products.
For large nuclei, the mass of the original nucleus is less than the mass of the products.
For small nuclei, the binding energy of the lighter nuclei is greater than the binding energy of the heavier nucleus.
For small nuclei, the binding energy of the lighter nuclei is less than the binding energy of the heavier nucleus.

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
"For small nuclei, the binding energy of the lighter nuclei is less than the binding energy of the heavier nucleus."

Explanation: fusion of light nuclei (e.g. H → He) produces a nucleus with higher binding energy per nucleon, so the total mass of the products is less than the sum of the initial masses. The mass difference is released as energy by E = mc^2.