Question

The mass of a proton is 1.00728 atomic mass units (amu) and the mass of a neutron is 1.00867 amu. What is the mass defect (in amu) of a nucleus whose nuclear mass is 59.9338 amu? What is the mass defect in kilograms? What is the energy equivalent of this mass in kilojoules?

Answer 1

I think you might miss a few things in you're story. Doesn't your question involve elements? If one element splits in different elements because it is unstable or because you shot neutrons at it you can compare the mass before the equation and after the equation of the elements. the lost amount of mass is then converted to energy. If you then multiply the loss of energy of the whole amounts of atoms you have against the lightspeed sqaured you gain the energy. E= mc². If you have m = in kg you have E in Joule because the SI unit of Joule is (kg * m²)/s² .