A double-humped barrier for a heavy actinide has already been built from its drop…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Nuclear Physics · The nuclear force and nuclear models · Fission, fusion and nuclear energy
The Nucleus Resolved, Ch Fission: the double-humped barrier and the shells the drop cannot see
Problem
A double-humped barrier for a heavy actinide has already been built from its drop energy and Strutinsky correction, and its total deformation energy E(β2) (drop plus shell plus pairing, all summed) is tabulated at five deformations. Data: β2=0, E=1.5MeV; β2=0.20, E=−1.0MeV; β2=0.40, E=4.6MeV; β2=0.55, E=1.8MeV; β2=0.75, E=4.1MeV.
((a)) Identify the deformed ground state and read off, measured from it, the inner barrier height EA.
((b)) Read off the second-minimum excitation energy above the ground state.
((c)) Read off the outer barrier height EB above the ground state.
((d)) The liquid drop alone gives a barrier of only a few MeV for a nucleus of this mass. State in one sentence which liquid-drop failure this table exposes.