Question

The mass of a proton is 1.00728 amu and that of a neutron is 1.00867 amu. what is the binding energy (in j) of a mc006-1.jpgco nucleus? (the mass of a cobalt-60 nucleus is 59.9338 amu.)

Answer 1

The binding energy is calculated from the product of the mass defect and the square of the speed of light. First, we need to calculate for the mass defect. We do as follows:
m = mass products - mass of reactantsm = 33*1.00867 + 27*1.00728 - 59.9338 m = 0.54887

E = mc^2 = 0.54887 (3x10^8)^2 = 4.94x10^16 J