Question

The __________ determines how tightly _________ a nucleus is.

• A. binding energy, bounded
• B. binding energy per nucleon, bounded
• C. binding energy, packed/bounded
• D. binding energy per nucleon, packed/bounded

Answer 1

The correct option is B

binding energy per nucleon, bounded

Remember, it is the binding energy per nucleon that determines how tightly bounded a nucleus is. Also, the tightness of packing or density is nearly constant for all nuclei.

Binding energy, by definition, is the amount of work you need to do to separate nucleons bound in a nucleus to infinity.