Physics

Problem

The nuclear mass of the iron-56 nucleus (

^{56}_{26}\text{Fe}

) is

55.934939\,u

(this value does not include the masses of the 26 orbital electrons). The nucleus contains 26 protons and 30 neutrons. a. (i) Calculate the mass defect of the iron-56 nucleus in atomic mass units using

m_{p}=1.007276\,u

and

m_{n}=1.008665\,u

. b. (ii) Determine the total binding energy and the binding energy per nucleon for iron-56. Take

1\,u=931.5\,\text{MeV}/c^{2}

. c. (iii) Comment briefly on the value obtained in part (ii) with reference to nuclear stability.

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