IB Physics Binding Energy per Nucleon

/

Tutorial questions on binding energy are below.

  1. Define nuclide.
  2. The atomic mass of the N-14 atom is 14.003074 u. Determine the atomic mass of the nucleus, the mass defect of the nucleus and the binding energy per nucleon of the nucleus. [13.999231 u, 0.112363 u, 7.48 MeV per nucleon]
  3. The atomic mass of the B-10 atom is 10.012939 u. What is the binding energy per nucleon of the B-10 nucleus? [6.475 MeV per nucleon]
  4. Which nuclide has the largest total binding energy? [Ni-62]
  5. Which nuclide has the largest binding energy per nucleon? [Fe-56]
  6. List the three largest binding energies per nucleon. [Fe-56, 1.082 MeV, Ni-62 1.077 MeV, Fe-58 1.071 MeV]
  7. Which term is more significant, total binding energy or biding energy per nucleon? [binding energy per nucleon, see note by Hans A Bethe in Physics Today April 1991 page 15]
  8. The binding energy per nucleon of a nucleus is negative in sign. Why is this? [See Physics Education, Vol 36 No 5 p375 Sep 2001, article by George Marx]