What are mass defect and binding energy?
Mass Defect-
The nuclear binding
energy holds a significant difference between the nucleus actual mass
and its expected mass depending on the sum of the masses of isolated
components.
Since energy and mass are related based on the following equation-
E=mc2
Where c is the speed
of light. In nuclei, the binding energy is so high that it holds the
considerable amount of mass.
The actual mass is
less than the sum of individual masses of the constituent neutrons
and protons in every situation because energy is ejected when the
nucleus is created. This energy consists of mass which is ejected
from the total mass of the original components and called as mass
defect. This the mass is missing in the final nucleus and describes
the energy liberated when the nucleus is made.
Mass defect is
determined as the difference between the atomic mass observed (Mo)
and expected by the combined masses of its protons (mp, every proton
has a mass of 1.00728 AMU) and neutrons (mn, 1.00867 AMU).
Once the mass defect
is calculated, nuclear binding energy can be determined by converting
mass to energy by applying E=mc2. When this energy is calculated
which is of joules for a nucleus, you can scale it into per-mole
quantities and per-nucleon. You need to multiply by Avogrado's number
to convert into joules/mole and divide by the number of nucleons to
convert to joules per nucleon.
Nuclear binding
energy is also applied to situations where the nucleus splits into
fragments that consist of more than one nucleon wherein, the binding
energies of the fragments can be either negative or positive based on
the position of the parent nucleus on the nuclear binding energy
curve. When heavy nuclei split or if the new binding energy is known
when the light nuclei fuses, either of these processes results in
liberation of binding energy.
Mass Defect-
The nuclear binding energy holds a significant difference between the nucleus actual mass and its expected mass depending on the sum of the masses of isolated components.
Since energy and mass are related based on the following equation-
E=mc2
Where c is the speed of light. In nuclei, the binding energy is so high that it holds the considerable amount of mass.
The actual mass is less than the sum of individual masses of the constituent neutrons and protons in every situation because energy is ejected when the nucleus is created. This energy consists of mass which is ejected from the total mass of the original components and called as mass defect. This the mass is missing in the final nucleus and describes the energy liberated when the nucleus is made.
Mass defect is determined as the difference between the atomic mass observed (Mo) and expected by the combined masses of its protons (mp, every proton has a mass of 1.00728 AMU) and neutrons (mn, 1.00867 AMU).
Once the mass defect is calculated, nuclear binding energy can be determined by converting mass to energy by applying E=mc2. When this energy is calculated which is of joules for a nucleus, you can scale it into per-mole quantities and per-nucleon. You need to multiply by Avogrado's number to convert into joules/mole and divide by the number of nucleons to convert to joules per nucleon.
Nuclear binding energy is also applied to situations where the nucleus splits into fragments that consist of more than one nucleon wherein, the binding energies of the fragments can be either negative or positive based on the position of the parent nucleus on the nuclear binding energy curve. When heavy nuclei split or if the new binding energy is known when the light nuclei fuses, either of these processes results in liberation of binding energy.
