Question

What is binding energy?

Answer 1

1. Binding energy can be defined as the smallest amount of energy that is required to remove a particle from a system of particles.
2. The strength of the force of attraction between the constituent particles determines the binding energy.
3. The few types of binding energy are:
   3.1 Electron binding energy: The energy that is required to remove an electron from the outermost energy level called electron binding energy.
   3.2 Atomic binding energy: Atomic binding energy of the atom is the energy that is used to break down an atom into free electrons and a nucleus.
   3.3 Nuclear binding energy: Nuclear binding energy is basically the energy required to dismantle a nucleus into free unbound neutrons and protons.
4. Mass defect is determined as the difference between the atomic mass observed and expected by the combined masses of its protons and neutrons.
   $\mathrm{Mass}\mathrm{defect}=\left(\mathrm{mass}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{neutron}+\mathrm{mass}\mathrm{of}\mathrm{proton}\right)-\mathrm{mass}\mathrm{observed}$
5. Bond energy is the energy that is used to disassemble a molecule into its constituent atoms.
6. Nuclear binding energy can be determined once the mass defect is calculated, usually by converting mass to energy by applying $\mathrm{E}={\mathrm{mc}}^2$
   where, $\mathrm{E}$is the nuclear binding energy, $\mathrm{m}$ is the mass defect, $\mathrm{c}$ is the speed of light in the air medium.