Given the following data: • Mass of proton • Mass of neutron • Mass of deuteron ( ) •…

PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · Nuclei · Nuclei

Problem

Given the following data: • Mass of proton =1.007276 u=1.007276\,\text{u} • Mass of neutron =1.008665 u=1.008665\,\text{u} • Mass of deuteron (12H^{2}_{1}\text{H}) =2.013553 u=2.013553\,\text{u} • Mass of helium-4 nucleus (24He^{4}_{2}\text{He}) =4.002603 u=4.002603\,\text{u} (Take 1 u=931.5 MeV ⁣/c21\,\text{u}=931.5\,\text{MeV}\!/c^{2}.) (a) Determine the mass defect of the deuteron in atomic mass units. (b) Calculate the binding energy per nucleon of the deuteron in MeV. (c) Calculate the binding energy per nucleon of the helium-4 nucleus and state which of the two nuclei is more stable on this basis.

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