L3: Nuclear Binding Energy

• NUCLEAR BINDING ENERGY

  • amount of energy needed to break nucleus into its components
  • denoted by E
• E = (delta m)(931.5 MeV)
• delta m = mass defect
• 931.5 MeV = megaelectronvolts constant
• mass of proton = 1.00728 amu
• mass of neutron = 1.00866 amu
• mass of electron = 0.0005 amu
• mass defect = [(# of protons x mass of protons) + (# of neutrons x mass of neutrons)] - given
• protons = atomic number
• neutrons = atomic mass - atomic number
• lower number (protons)

  upper number - lower (neutrons)