oooh!! do you know why that is, or is that just a fact we are supposed to know?
I thought neutrons do have a binding energy, they're potential energy falls to a constant as they come within range of the strong nuclear force and hence they must lose mass due to E=mc2? Unless I've missed something out you would include neutrons when calculating binding energy or energy released in a nuclear reaction...
Hi guys, I'm a private candidate and have been studying from home. I've learned the whole Unit 5 syllabus and have practiced all the past paper exams because I'm not quite sure which papers I'm supposed to take and why there are so many?:| If anyone could steer me in the right direction, that would be great because I think I've probably covered more than I needed to?
I hope you haven't learnt every optional topic 😳😳😳😳
I thought neutrons do have a binding energy, they're potential energy falls to a constant as they come within range of the strong nuclear force and hence they must lose mass due to E=mc2? Unless I've missed something out you would include neutrons when calculating binding energy or energy released in a nuclear reaction...
If your calculating the energy released using the change in mass, then yes neutrons are included in the calculation. But in this situation it was just about the binding energy of the nuclei. Seeing as a neutron has already split from the neutron it has no binding energy and isnt included.
I think in our course, There is no information on binding energy of protons and nucleons separately, Binding energy per nucleon is simply the average binding energy of a proton and neutron in a certain nucleus.
Neutrons that are not in a nucleus thus have no binding energy as binding energy is the energy released when a nucleus formed, which is determined by the mass defect. As there is no nucleus, no mass defect, hence no binding energy for thermal neutrons.
If your calculating the energy released using the change in mass, then yes neutrons are included in the calculation. But in this situation it was just about the binding energy of the nuclei. Seeing as a neutron has already split from the neutron it has no binding energy and isnt included.