In reply to Edmund Storms's message of Thu, 14 Mar 2013 22:04:51 -0600: Hi Ed, [snip] >Robin, according to my tables, the mass of a bare d is 2.014101778, >which is the value I used. I don't know where you got the idea an >electron is involved. These are nuclear reactions. > >Ed
Your table is correct, however your interpretation of it is not. The mass quoted is that of a D atom, i.e. the nucleus plus it's electron. (See http://atom.kaeri.re.kr/ton/nuc1.html for atomic masses.) Most publicly available tables provide atomic masses. That's because the mass is determined using a mass spectrometer which in turn "measures" the mass of ions with a single positive charge, then the mass of an electron is added to yield that of the whole atom. It's difficult to create completely ionized nuclei, to allow measurement of the actual *nuclear* mass, and it gets more difficult as the atomic number increases. Hence the approach used, and the form of the tables. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html
