Is there any loss of potential energy during nuclear fission? We know that energy is created durin

lurtzslikgtgjd

lurtzslikgtgjd

Answered question

2022-05-19

Is there any loss of potential energy during nuclear fission?
We know that energy is created during nuclear fission and there is a loss in mass. But every body possess potential energy even when it is at rest (where height = radius of earth). So during nuclear fission, due to loss in mass, should there be loss in potential energy of the body as P = mgh ?

Answer & Explanation

HowOPpodopgtk3

HowOPpodopgtk3

Beginner2022-05-20Added 20 answers

Once you start considering relativity (which you have to do for mass-energy interconversions) the split of energy into kinetic and potential energy becomes ill defined. So you are quite correct that if you take the usual definition of gravitational potential energy:
V = G M m r
then any event in which the total rest mass changes will cause a change in the potential energy. But that's OK because potential energy isn't a conserved quantity. The conserved quantity is the total energy and that does remain constant.

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