Mass defect and nuclear binding energy
23.1What the syllabus asks of you
- understand the equivalence between energy and mass as represented by E = mc² and recall and use this equation
- represent simple nuclear reactions by nuclear equations of the form ¹⁴₇N + ⁴₂He → ¹⁷₈O + ¹₁H
- define and use the terms mass defect and binding energy
- sketch the variation of binding energy per nucleon with nucleon number
- explain what is meant by nuclear fusion and nuclear fission
- explain the relevance of binding energy per nucleon to nuclear reactions, including nuclear fusion and nuclear fission
- calculate the energy released in nuclear reactions using E = c²∆m
Read the notes first
Chapter 23: Mass defect and nuclear binding energy
Drill this topic
All 27 questions on Mass defect and nuclear binding energy, untimed — answer on paper, then mark yourself against the mark scheme.
Make a worksheet
Choose the years and how many questions, then print it with the answers on separate pages.
27 questions
These are structured questions, answered in working rather than by picking an option, so they are not listed here one by one. The drill above puts each in front of you with its mark scheme to check against.