Question

Explain the terms mass defect and binding energy. How are they related?

Answer 1

Mass Defect: The difference between the total mass of the individual protons and neutrons and the actual mass of the nucleus.

Δm = `(Zm_p + Nm_n) − M_"nucleus"`

Binding Energy: The energy required to completely separate a nucleus into its individual protons and neutrons.

Relation Between Mass Defect and Binding Energy: The mass defect is converted into binding energy according to Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence principle:

Eb = Δm . c² 

(If mass is in u, then 1u = 931.5 MeV)