Chapter 24, Problem 24.71P

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

Reason for why at first many scientists reacted with uncertainty to Einstein’s equation has to be explained.

Concept Introduction:

The theoretical mass of a nucleus should be the sum mass of its constituent nucleons, however, when the mass is determined experimentally, it will turn out (for all nuclei) to be smaller than the theoretical mass. This mass difference is called the mass defect the energy corresponding to this defect is called the binding energy.

Nuclear binding energy can be calculated by Einstein’s mass energy equivalence relationship that is,

  $\begin{array}{l}\text{E = }\Delta {\text{mc}}^2\\ \\ where,\\ \Delta \text{m = Mass Difference}\\ c=\text{ Speed of light}\end{array}$