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Atomic Mass Unit (u):
Atomic Mass Unit (u):
In nuclear physics, the mass of a particle, such as a nucleus, is measured in a unified atomic mass unit, given a unit symbol u.
It is a non-SI unit but is of convenient size.
One atomic mass unit is one-twelfth of the mass of a carbon-12 isotope atom:
1 u = 1.6604 x 10-27 kg
Energy Equivalence of an Atomic Mass Unit:
Energy Equivalence of an Atomic Mass Unit:
The energy equivalence of 1 u in joules is 1.492 x 10-10 J (4 s.f.)
The energy equivalence of 1 u in electron volts is 931.6 x 106 eV or 931.6 MeV (4 s.f.)
Verify the answers by E = mc2
Binding Energy of a Nucleus:
Binding Energy of a Nucleus:
The mass of a nucleus is found to be less than the sum of the masses of its constituent nucleons.
The mass defect represents the binding energy of a nucleus, which is the energy required to split the nucleus into its individual nucleons.
Nuclear Stability and Binding Energy:
Nuclear stability is measured by the binding energy per nucleon of a nucleus.
Binding energy per nucleon = binding energy for the nucleus divides by the number of nucleons (mass number)
The graph shown at the right is of the binding energy per nucleon versus mass number for all the elements.
The most stable elements (Iron, Fe-56) have the highest binding energy per nucleon since they need the most energy to disintegrate.
The following two videos show you how to calculate the binding energy from the mass defect, and talks about the binding energy per nucleon and how it relates to nuclear stability and fusion and fission.
Nuclear Binding Energy tutorial
Nuclear Binding Energy tutorial
Ben Ryder - 7 min
Nuclear Physics
Nuclear Physics
Physics Videos by Eugene Khutoryansky - 17 min
Homework: Complete the SciPad questions under topics:
Nuclear Binding Energy (p. 106-108).
Nuclear Stability (p.109 and p.113).
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