-> That doesn't sound right.  Chemical explosives don't destroy mass 
-> either, do they?  It's just a release of molecular binding energy -- a 
-> chemical reaction that releases energy in the form of heat.  I thought 
-> the mass was still all there. 
  
Nope. When energy is "released", going someplace else in the form of 
light, sound, etc., it takes a tiny bit of mass with it. The total mass 
of the products of an explosion is less than the mass of the material 
just prior to the explosion. 
  
                                dow 
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