Edmund Storms <[email protected]> wrote: Actually Jed, the mass change can be measured. Of course this is not done > using a laboratory scales. However, if the mass and energy of the > individual particles resulting from the nuclear reaction are measured, the > numbers add up correctly. >
Sure. I meant on a macroscopic scale. I brought up Pu-238 because Philip Morrison wrote an article about this topic, and he suggested this would be the most promising method of measuring mass loss. He discussed mass spectrometers and particle accelerators and then wrote: "I wanted to exhibit the direct and delightful implications of [mass loss]: put some well-sealed but internally changing system on the pan of a balance, then wait . . ." He couldn't find a way. He gives some examples: "A windup toy unwinds and lightens by one billionth the weight of the dot of an i. A car burns a tankful of gas and plenty of air; the total weight lightens by 10 dot's weight. . . . The sun shines for 1 second and loses the weight of 2 dozen ocean liners." - Jed
