The total luminosity of the Sun is 4e26 Watts. a) What is the mass (in kg) that the Sun loses each second due to the conversion of nuclear binding energy into radiation? b) The Sun has a total mass of 2e30kg and will live for 1e10 years. What fraction of the Sun’s mass will be consumed in its lifetime due to nuclear fusion? Don’t forget that Watts are measured in seconds. c) One of the interactions that takes place in the Sun’s core is the production of Deuterium. Two protons come together and one converts into a neutron. The mass of each proton is 938.27209 MeV/c2 . The mass of the deuteron is 1875.61294 MeV. How much energy is released during this process? d) During this process, the new nucleus releases two other particles. The initial particles, two protons, each have a quantum spin of +1/2 and an electric charge of +1. Now you have a proton, a neutron, a particle X, and particle Y. If the particle X has no electric charge, what is the electric charge of particle Y? If particle Y has a spin of −1/2, what is the spin of particle X? Note that both spin and electric charge are conserved quantities. Also note that these particles are real and have names.

The total luminosity of the Sun is 4e26 Watts. a) What is the mass (in kg) that the Sun loses each second due to the conversion of nuclear binding energy into radiation? b) The Sun has a total mass of 2e30kg and will live for 1e10 years. What fraction of the Sun’s mass will be consumed in its lifetime due to nuclear fusion? Don’t forget that Watts are measured in seconds. c) One of the interactions that takes place in the Sun’s core is the production of Deuterium. Two protons come together and one converts into a neutron. The mass of each proton is 938.27209 MeV/c2 . The mass of the deuteron is 1875.61294 MeV. How much energy is released during this process? d) During this process, the new nucleus releases two other particles. The initial particles, two protons, each have a quantum spin of +1/2 and an electric charge of +1. Now you have a proton, a neutron, a particle X, and particle Y. If the particle X has no electric charge, what is the electric charge of particle Y? If particle Y has a spin of −1/2, what is the spin of particle X? Note that both spin and electric charge are conserved quantities. Also note that these particles are real and have names.