The nuclear masses are given as follows: ,

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

Problem

The nuclear masses are given as follows:

M\bigl(^{14}_{7}\!\text{N}\bigr) = 14.00307\,\text{u}

M\bigl(^{16}_{8}\!\text{O}\bigr) = 15.99491\,\text{u}

. The masses of a free proton and neutron are

m_p = 1.00727\,\text{u}

and

m_n = 1.00866\,\text{u}

, respectively. Take

1\,\text{u} = 931.5\,\text{MeV}

. (a) Determine the binding energy per nucleon for each of the two nuclei. (b) Which of the two nuclei is more stable on the basis of your calculation?

Related theory

Nuclear Binding Energy
Mass defect and binding energy
Nuclear physics
Nuclei
Mass energy equivalence

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