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Home Q & A Board Biology-Related Homework Help Biochemistry
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lemonjello lemonjello
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11 years ago
So I know that when a special isotope of hydrogen that contains a neutron fusses with another, that helium is created and a free neutron is released. What I don't understand is how that free neutron can contain potential energy, and how humans hope to one day contain that energy.

I assume that that free neutron can be used in additional fusion but how can any present energy be transformed into something like heat energy?

Thanks!
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#1
11 years ago
I dunno what potential energy do you mean. I think that free neutron contains energy, but it is KINETIC energy, not potential one. that free neutron also can induce another nuclear reaction, therefore more energy released. and large number of moving neutrons already have heat energy, because heat energy is none other than random kinetic energy of many particles.
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#2
11 years ago
The reason that the neutron can be used for energy is because it obeys einstein's E=mc^2.  A neutron contains "Binding Energy" which is the conversion of the mass of the neutron into energy.  If a neutron has mass, it mus have energy according to the einstein's equation.  We know that a neutron does have mass, and in nuclear reactions, it is moving, most likely at the speed of light.  therefore the neutron has energy that we can harness for everyday energy.
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