Questions tagged [binding-energy]
Please use binding energy in the context of the atomic scale and/or atomic systems. This can be used in nuclear reactions.
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How does the increased binding energy per nucleon help in stability?
I have some read answers on this forum, some books like Halliday Resnick and my course books. I have understood that binding energy is the energy we need to supply to break nucleus into individual ...
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My book says “binding energy is the energy released when a nucleus is created from another nuclei or nucleons”
According to my book “binding energy is the energy released when a nucleus is formed from nuclei or nucleons.This nuclear binding energy is derived from nuclear force “. How is the binding energy ...
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How to explain different, seemingly inconsistent, values for the mass of the alpha particle in different books?
I’m trying to calculate the energy of an $\alpha$ particle after the decay of Ra-226 following an example in a german school book and came across different values for the mass of an $\alpha$ particle.
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Difference between bandmodel and bondmodel in semiconductor?
I have confusion in the two models of semiconductor and it is as follows:
$1$- according to the bond model it says that the electrons which is bounded Silicon atoms,when we apply electric field this ...
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Radioactive Decay of Li-8
Currently using a simulation to observe the decay of various elements. I noticed for the Li-8 there is beta decay. There are also arrows pointing from beta decay towards alpha decay and stable. Can ...
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Nuclear binding energy and natural radioactive decay
I have just started to learn about nuclear binding energy. While I believe I understand the concept well, there is one thing I do not still fully grasp.
I understand that the nuclear binding energy ...
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Why are nuclei with large numbers of neutrons only stable with correspondingly large numbers of protons? [duplicate]
Large numbers of protons need to be separated by neutrons, otherwise they repel....
But why do nuclei with large of numbers of neutrons only remain stable with a relatively, correspondingly large ...
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$Q$-Factor for Beta Decay
I am struggling to understand the $Q$-factor for the $\beta^-$- decay process. My understanding of the $Q$-factor is that it's the difference in binding energies before and after the chemical reaction....
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Why protons and neutrons dont weight less then their constituents?
A system of gravitational attracted objects weight less than the sum of their individual masses becauses it needs energy to move them apart and overcome the gravitational attraction. Same is true for ...
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Binding energy per nucleon vs binding energy
What is the physical difference between binding energy and binding energy per nucleon? Which one is the energy required to split nucleus into individual nucleons?
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Does a double star system have more mass than its constituents?
According to Einstein, energy is equal to mass. Consider a planet that is in gravitational attraction to two stars. Normally I would say that the gravitational attraction is proportional to the masses ...
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I don't understand why combustion releases energy?
So I've tried to wrap my head around fire. To keep it simple, I explain it with cellulose combustion. But to explain exotermic reactions, I show the example of methane combustion. Here is the detail ...
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Why do we use nuclide mass in nuclear reactions instead of nucleus mass?
Why do we use nuclide mass in nuclear reactions instead of nucleus mass in the calculation?
When trying to find the energy released in a nuclear reaction, the mass difference is calculated and put ...
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Does producing a heavy nucleus release more energy than producing two lighter nuclei with the same number of protons and neutrons?
Does producing a heavy nucleus release more energy than producing two lighter nuclei with the same number of protons and neutrons? If this holds true what is the reason behind this?
Say we have 20 ...
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What exactly does it mean that mass is just confined energy? [closed]
I learned about this a few years ago from a PBS Spacetime video (https://youtu.be/gSKzgpt4HBU, timestamp 1:37), that gave the thought experiment of a massless box of photons gaining mass when ...
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What determines the path in radioactive decay series?
How an element decays can be plotted in a diagram like this:
source: https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/City_College_of_San_Francisco/Chemistry_101B/10%3A_Nuclear_Chemistry/10.3%3A_Radioactive_Decay
...
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It is possible to combine two heavy elements into one?
Is it possible to combine say two uranium atoms into very heavy new element? Periodic table ends around 115 today, but can it go forever technically?
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How can the binding energy per nucleon graph be useful if you can't compare "all" products with "all" reactants?
How can the binding energy per nucleon (BEN) graph be useful if one can't compare "all" products with "all" reactants?
Take the fission process of Uranium to Thorium:
$${}^{238}U \...
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Could there be undiscovered long-lived isomers of unstable elements?
There are 80 stable elements in the periodic table. These elements have at least one stable isotope. Other elements don’t have any identified stable isotopes. The existence of stable isotopes can be ...
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Why is $^{58}\rm Ni$ the most common isotope or nuclide of nickel if $^{62}\rm Ni$ has the most binding energy (per nucleon) of ANY known nucleus?
Nickel-58 and nickel-62 are four neutrons apart, not even just two, so this fact is especially confusing to me...
I have read about how nickel is synthesized in stars from silicon, so this is perhaps ...
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Physical process of mass creation and destruction via $E=mc^2$ [closed]
Einstein's famous equation is $E=mc^2$. This is essential in nuclear reactions that are happening in the sun and other stars. They convert matter to energy. But scientists in recent times also ...
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Why is there a sudden drop-off in half-life of isotopes at around 130 neutrons? Is there a name for this?
Pertaining to the chart of nuclides, there is a region above Bismuth, in which the relatively continuous trend of stability is interrupted by a batch of isotopes all with extremely short half-lives. I ...
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Bound states and negative energy [duplicate]
I have read online that the hydrogen atom's energy level is given by $$E=-13.6eV$$
where $eV$ represents electron volts. The notes say that the energy is negative because the electron is bound to the ...
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Binding energy of surface nucleons vs inner nucleons from the strong force between two nucleons
The strong force between two nucleons is attractive. Therefore, if we consider a nucleon on the surface of a nucleus (i.e. at radius $r=R$ where R is the radius of the nucleus), it is pulled only ...
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Why will nuclear fusion ever be energy net-positive?
Question from a layman:
In nuclear fission, you don't do all the work to split each nuclei every time. You set things up in a clever way so there is a chain reaction. Previously split nuclei cause ...
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Why does a tritium nucleus have a higher mass than $^3\rm He$?
$^3\rm He$ has a lower (nuclear) mass than tritium which is why the latter decays into the former. This is not explained by the semi-empirical mass formula, which would predict a lower binding energy (...
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Why can protons and neutrons be close together in a nucleus despite the uncertainty principle?
Vol II, Chapter 1 of the Feynman Lectures explains why negative electrons do not get closer to the positively charged nucleus despite the great attractive force:
If we try to confine our electrons in ...
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General Half-life calculation for an abitrary nucleus
I have been getting back into physics and I was wondering whether there was a generalized half-life equation for any given nucleus composition.
For instance for gold isotope 210-AU. Is it possible to ...
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About binding energy, mass defect and enegy released in a nuclear fusion
I know this question looks very similar to many others but I actually think it is not the same, because I was looking for a possible answer for hours.
The question is about the first step in the pp ...
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Why we have not observed one proton and one neutron nuclear decay? [duplicate]
I'm learning about nuclear decays:
Alpha (helium nucleus, +2)
Beta (electron)
Gamma (photon)
Neutron
But why helium nucleus? Why not hydrogen nucleus (deuterium)?
I mean why two protons and two ...
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Is an element necessarily more stable if the no. of protons and neutrons are equal? [duplicate]
This question came in the Rajshahi University admission exam 2017-18
Q) An element is more stable if in its atom-
(a) Protons and neutrons are equal in number
(b) Protons and electrons are equal in ...
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Is mass defect of atoms considered when the mass of electron is measured within atoms?
First of all, here considering the mass defect as the binding energy between an electron and the rest of the atom; i.e. taking the mass of nucleus as it is. That since nuclear mass defect is present ...
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Why $\rm Ag$ 108 decays into $\rm Cd$ 108 most of the time?
In the table of nuclides, it shows that $\rm Ag$ 108 can go through either electron capture or beta- decay (though the branching ratio for electron capture decay is much lower). What determines that? ...
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Tightly bound energy configuration for nucleons?
In fusion, why are nucleons of the product nucleus tightly bound and in a lower energy configuration than the nucleons in the reactant nuclei? I think the reason a large amount of energy is released ...
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Why does binding energy cause mass defect?
During fusion, for instance hydrogen fuse to form a helium nucleus which has lower mass than the sum of its constituents.... Why is it so?
I have read that energy is required to break apart the ...
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Calculating the Energy released in Fusion between Deuterium and Tritium
I'm trying to calculate the Energy you would get in a fusion reactor from the fusion of deuterium and tritium:
${}^2H+{}^3H \rightarrow {}^4He + n$
Using this Equation:
$E = E_{rest} + E_{kin} = mc^2 +...
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$E=mc^2$ in particle physics vs non-relativistic quantum mechanics (NRQM)
I have seen in many places that the equation $E=mc^2$ is useful for describing subatomic particles as well, and, this is the basis of Nuclear reaction. However, to my understanding, this equation is ...
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Negative potential energy
In fusion of hydrogen into helium, hydrogen has negative potential energy which adds up and results in a mass defect..
Doubts:-
Why is there negative potential energy between the nucleons in a ...
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Cause of energy release in fusion [duplicate]
For the fast few months, I have been scratching my head for this problem which I have faced while studying fusion.
In a hydrogen fusion, two hydrogen (for instance ) fuse to form a helium nucleus. I ...
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Why doesn't a nucleus-like body made up of just neutrons exist?
We know that neutrons exert short ranged nuclear forces over other nucleons in a nucleus, and these forces are only attractive in nature. Also this force is universal and doesn't differentiate between ...
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Why is some mass converted into energy when neutrons and protons combine to form nucleus?
So some of the mass is converted into energy when neutrons and protons combine to form nucleus. Why? And how? And then why do we need to supply the same amount of energy to separate them?
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Nuclear fusion mass defect and energy production
In researching the topic of nuclear fusion, I have a few doubts related to the mass defect, 'negative' potential energy and resultant energy released as a by-product of nuclear fusion.
When two ...
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What happens when the universe runs out of fuel?
After some X billion years, one would think the stars in the entire universe will run out of hydrogen. What would happen next? Is there any way to get hydrogen out of heavy metals (extreme fission)? ...
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Why do elements, as they have more protons, need a higher amount of neutrons to stabilise them? [duplicate]
I've seen the graphs of the stability line but I can't find any reason as to why this happens, I understand radiation, just not why radiation needs to occur in the first place if that makes sense.
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Fusion energy origin
In fusion , I have understood so far that two light nuclei fuse to form a heavy nucleus. The nucleons in the light nuclei experience lesser binding energy as compared to the nucleons in heavy nucleus ...
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Why does the stability of a nucleus depend on the binding energy $\textit{per nucleon}$ instead of the total binding energy?
The larger the total binding energy of a nucleus, the greater the minimum energy that must be added to infinitely separate the constituent nucleons. Shouldn't the total binding energy, then, be used ...
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In general relativity, assuming a spherical uniform mass distribution, what is the total energy value of the gravitational field inside the sphere?
In Newtonian mechanics, assuming a spherical uniform mass distribution, the total gravitational potential energy (gravitational self-energy) inside the sphere is
$$U_{gs}=-\frac35\frac{GM^2}R.$$
In ...
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How can a proton in a nucleus decay into neutron and positron in β+ decay if neutrons have greater mass than a proton? [duplicate]
I'm guessing it has something to do with mass defect/binding energy??
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Inertial properties of negative masses
Pondering Casimir effect and negative mass and Gravitational binding energy as alternative to dark matter? I start to think that each form of negative energy has negative gravitational mass. The list ...
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How is Alpha Radiation possible?
Alpha radiation would seem to occur when a pair of protons and neutrons are magically plucked from the amorphous (i.e. having no particular structure) nucleus of a heavier atom.
Some of the problems ...
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