(Reverse calculation from binding energy data)

PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Nuclear physics · Nuclear physics

Problem

(Reverse calculation from binding energy data) (a) Nickel-58 has atomic number

Z=28

and mass number

A=58

. Its binding energy per nucleon is measured to be

8.79\,\text{MeV}

. (b) (i) Calculate the total binding energy

E_b

of a single

^{58}_{28}\!Ni

nucleus. (c) (ii) Deduce the corresponding mass defect

\Delta m

in atomic mass units. (d) (iii) Using

m_p = 1.007276\,\text{u}

and

m_n = 1.008665\,\text{u}

, determine the mass of the

^{58}_{28}\!Ni

nucleus in atomic mass units. (e) (iv) What percentage of the original nucleon mass has been converted into binding energy for

^{58}_{28}\!Ni