Question #f10be
1 Answer
The binding energy is the energy required to break a nucleus into its component nucleons.
For example,
Example:
Find the binding energy of a copper-63 nucleus if its actual mass is 62.9296 u.
We first determine the mass defect, the difference between the mass of a nucleus and the sum of the masses of its nucleons.
Mass of 29 protons = 29 × 1.0073 u = 29.2117 u
Mass of 34 neutrons = 34 × 1.0087 u = 34.2958 u
Total mass of particles = 63.5075 u
Mass of copper-63 = 62.9296 u
Mass defect = 0.5779 u
The mass defect is the binding energy expressed in atomic mass units (u).
Now convert the mass defect into energy.
This is the binding energy per nucleus.
The binding energy per mole is 6.0221 × 10²³ × 8.648 ×10⁻¹¹ J =
5.207 × 10¹³ J/mol = 52.07 TJ/mol