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jaster
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(first post on these forums). I am a nuclear physics sophomore and I come to you with what is, perhaps, a question I should already know the answer to. Several nuclear reactions release energy in accordance with some mass difference between reactants and products. My question, however, is about the physical meaning of this. Where does this mass come from? How might I visualize this process? If I wanted to visualize, with some model, the difference between (for example) a free neutron and a bound one (bound in a system with some binding energy relating to the mass difference between the bound system and the sums of the masses of the individual particles)? If I was to be given some visualization/information about a random proton is there any way (speaking fromt theory not instrumentation) I would be able to tell if it was bound or free? Sorry for the rambling nature of the question, it's been a long day Thanks and Peace