- #1
mahela007
- 106
- 0
I understand that when , say, several protons and neutron come together to from a nucleus they loose some mass and that this mass is lost as ENERGY as proven by Einstein. But does that actually mean that the protons and neutrons become a bit lighter? And is this what accounts for the mass defect (i.e why the relative atomic mass of any atom except C12 is not a whole number)?