Question

Draw a plot of potential energy between a pair of nucleons as a function of their separation. Mark the regions where potential energy is (i) positive and (ii) negative.

Answer 1

The potential energy is minimum at r_o. For distances larger than r_o the negative potential energy goes on decreasing and for the distances less than r_o the negative potential energy decreases to zero and then becomes positive and increases abruptly.

Thus, A to B is the positive potential energy region and B to C is the negative potential energy region.