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2-3.

NUCLEAR BINDING ENERGY


Every nucleus has a state of lowest energy, the ground state, and higher energy states,
called excited states. Much can be learned about nuclear forces from a consideration
of nuclei in their ground state, independently of whether these nuclei happen to be
stable or have the possibility to decay radioactively. Systematic overall trends can be
found in mass, radius, charge, abundance, etc. On closer examination certain
periodicities become apperent also. Nuclear models which have been devoleped to
explaind these properties can be devided roughly imto semiclassical (particle)
models, which allow a general understanding of systematic trends and quantum
(wave) mechanical models which alone give insight into the periodicities. The liquiddrop model and the stell model are the outstanding representatives of each class and
will be describe bellow.
2-3a Definitions. One of the most important quantities tobe considered is the nuclear
mass. It is usually expressed in mass units, abbreviated by u, so defined that the mass
of one atom of C12 is equal to exactly 12.00.u1 Masses of stable nuclides are listed
in App. C.
The difference between the actual nuclear mass and the mass of all the
individual nucleons is called the total binding energy Btot (A,Z). It represents the work
necessary to dissociate the nucleus into separate nucleons or, converserly, the enrgy
which would be released if the separated nucleons were assembled into a nucleus. For
convenience, the masses of atoms rather than the masses of nuclei are used in all
calculations. This causes no difficulty, except that the binding energy of the atomic
electrons should also be considered.2 For simplicity, thougt, we will usually omit it,
We can therefore write
Btot ( A, Z ) ZM H NM n M ( A, Z ) c 2

(2-115)

Where the definitions of the quantities are identical to those of Eqs.(1-1) and (1-2).
The average binding energy per nucleon is given by
Btot ( A, Z )
A

Bave ( A, Z )

(2116)

The following quantities are sometimes convenient, although we will not use them
(except in App.C)
Mass excess =

Packing fraction

(2-117)
M A
A

(2-118)

The work necessary to separate a proton, neutron, deuteron, or alpha


particle from a nuc leus is called the separation energy S. Conversely, this energy is
released when such a particle is captured by a nucleus. For a neutron
S n M A 1, Z M n M ( A, Z )c 2

(2-119)

All separation energies can be expressed in terms of the total binding energies of the
nuclei involved by substituting the expression for the mass, obtained from Eq.(2-115),
into expressions similar to (2-119). We then find, for example,
S n Btot ( A, Z ) Btot ( A 1, Z )

(2-120)

S Btot ( A, Z ) Btot ( A 4, Z 2) Btot (4,2)

(2-121)

2-3b Average binding energy per nucleon. Saturation and short range of nuclear
forces. Experimentally, Btot can be determined from an accurate measurement of M

by mass spectromentry or from a determination of S by nuclear reaction studies. The


overall trends for Bave are summarized in Fig. 2-8.
FIGURE 2-8 Average binding energy per nucleon versus mass number for the
naturally occurring nuclides (and Be8). Note the scale change on the abscissa at A=30.
(By permission from Evans,1955).
GAMBAR GRAFIK.MASS NUMBER A

The most striking feature of Bave is its approximate independence of A,


except for the lightest nuclei. Suppose that the binding energy (bonding energy in
chemical terms) of every nucleon to every other nucleon in the nucleus is roughly
equal to a constant C. In a nucleus with A nucleons there would then be

1
A(A-1)
2

bonds and hence


Btot

1
CA( A 1)
2

(2-

122)
So that

Bave

1
C ( A 1)
2

(2-

123)
In complete contradiction to Fig. 2-8. The approximate constancy of Bave indicates
that each nucleon is not bonded equally to every other nucleon, but rather that nuclear
forces between nucleons do not extend to more than a few nucleons. Either the forces
must have a very short range of the order of the diameter of one nucleon, or they
saturatc, like chernical bonds. Saturation means that the binding, or bonding, energy

between one nucleon and the rest of the nucleus reaches a limit once a certain total
number of nucleons has been assembled. From Fig. 2-8 it appears that with four
nucleons, or more, saturation has set in.
We can find out which of the aforementioned effects is of importance by the
following argument. The range of nuclear forces can be inferred from a study of the
scattering of two nucleons (p,p or n,p) and from the binding energy of the
deuteron1.We find that the range is of order of 2 F, which is com-parable to the
diameter of a nucleon. This in itself might lead to a constant Bave , if each nucleon
were bonded only to its nearest neigh bors. But the volume of a nucleus would not
vary proportional to A, that is R

R0A 2 in contradiction to Eq. (1-5). The reason for

this is that the nucleons in a given nucleus arrange themselves in such a way as to
produce a system of minimum total energy. With the above attractive nuclear force,
the lowest potential energy is reached if all nucleons crowd into a region so that each
one is within about 2 F of the others. The lowest kinetic energy is obtained if each
nucleon moves in the largest possible nuclear volume2. Since the potential energy
turns out to be dominant3, the nucleus would collapse4 to a radius of the order of 2 F.
Evidently some other effect besides a short force range must occur.
Recent theories of nuclear structure trace saturation to two effects. First, it has
been established experimentally that at distances of the order of

1
F the forces
2

between nucleons becomes strongly repulsive. We can say that nucleons have a hard
core. Although this alone would given an

1
2

A dependence for the nuclear radius, the

calculated constant R0 in Eq. (1-5) comes out too small. Second, the pauli exclusion
principle, which forbids two nucleons of the same kind, e.g.,two protons, to occupy
states with identical quantum numbers, produces effects which keep nucleons a part
from each other5.

In summary, a rough consideration of the nuclear binding energy and of the


nuclear volume already provides important clues about the nuclear force. Before
proceeding to more details, it is instructive to mention another physical system in
which the average binding energy per particle is a constant, namely a solid or a liquid.
The heat of vaporization Q is the total work necessary to dissociate m grams of the
substance into n separated molecules, at a constant temperature. If M0 is the mass of
one molecule
m= n M0

(2-124)

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