1.

Explain mass defect and binding energy with example.

Answer»

The nuclear mass M is always less than the total mass of its constituents. The difference in mass of a nucleus and its constituents ΔM is called the mass defect, 

ΔM = (Z mp + (A – Z)mn) – M 

Using Einstein’s mass energy relation, we express this mass difference in terms of energy as 

ΔEb = ΔM c2 

The energy ΔEb represents the binding energy of the nucleus. In the mass number range A = 30 to 170, the binding energy per nucleon is nearly constant, about 8 MeV/nucleon. 

Example : 

The atomic mass of nucleus of 168O found from mass spectroscopy experiments is seen to be 15.99053 u. The expected mass of 168O nucleus is by adding 8 protons mass and 8 neutrons mass = 16.12744 u. 

The difference between these two masses is mass defect = 0.13691 u. 



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