Mass Defect

Introduction 

The mass defect is a fundamental term in Physics that highlights the difference between the predicted mass and actual atomic mass, calculated by adding the neutron and proton mass in a nucleus. The predicted mass is always more than the actual atomic mass, which is calculated with the addition of nucleon masses. 

Today, in this article on what mass defect is, you will get detailed information on mass defects in physics, binding energy, its various types, and other related topics in detail. So, let us get started with the mass defect study material.

Explain the Mass Defect 

According to the mass defect in physics, the tiniest difference calculated between the predicted mass and actual atomic mass is gained by adding the neutron and proton mass in a nucleus. The mass of neutrons and protons in the nucleus is always more than the atomic nucleus. The energy is released every time the nucleus is developed. 

This formed energy is eliminated in the form of total mass reduction. This missing mass is referred to as the “mass defect.” The mass defect is denoted by (𝚫M). Here is the mass defect formula: 𝚫M = (Zmp + Nmn) – MA 

𝚫M – mass defect

mp– the mass of a proton

Z – number of protons

mn– the mass of a neutron

MA – the mass of the nuclei

N – number of neutrons

Binding Energy 

The binding energy can be described as the tiniest amount of energy that is required for removing an energy particle from a huge system of several particles. In simple words, the binding energy is used for separating the particle system into sole units. This term is majorly used in atomic physics and chemistry; however, a huge chunk of it also appears in nuclear physics, where it is used for describing energy separation. 

Types of Binding Energy 

There are majorly three different types of binding energy that operate at energy scale and distance. It is important to note that if the bound system size is smaller, the binding energy is most likely to be high; however, if the size of the bound system is larger, the binding energy will be comparatively lower. Let’s talk about the different types of binding energy – 

Ionisation Energy

The first type of binding energy is Ionisation Energy, also known as Electron binding energy, which is required for removing the electron from the atomic orbital. This energy is generally driven by the electromagnetic interaction between the nucleus and electrons, molecule or solid, and other atoms’ electrons. 

Atomic Binding Energy

The energy required to break down an atom into free electrons and a nucleus is atomic binding energy. It can be defined as the total amount of all the electrons’ ionisation energy in a given atom. The electromagnetic interaction between the electrons and the nucleus, mediated by photons, gives the atomic binding energy.

Nuclear Binding Energy

The amount of energy required to detach a particle from a system of particles or disperse all of the system’s particles is known as binding energy. In other words, Nuclear Binding Energy is the specific amount of energy required to split the nucleus of an atom into different components. This form of energy is used to decide the favourable process, i.e., fission or fusion.  

Nuclear binding is the lowest energy required for breaking down or disassembling an atom’s nucleus into subatomic particles. Nucleon refers to the subatomic particles that make up the nucleus, such as neutrons and protons. 

The difference between the disruptive energy and the nuclear attraction of the electric force is equivalent to the total binding energy linked with a certain nucleus. It’s worth noting that as nucleons in the nucleus grow, so does the net binding energy per nucleon. As a result, the atomic number affects the net binding energy per nucleon.

Applications of Binding Energy 

The binding energy is majorly used to determine whether fusion or fission work in the favour or not. Because the nuclear binding energy rises with the increase in mass, fusion releases energy for materials lighter than iron-56. Since lighter elements have higher binding energy as compared to heavier elements, they release energy when fission. According to the nuclear binding energy curve, there exists a peak at iron-56.

Conclusion 

With this, we end our study material on mass defects. In this introduction to mass defect, we studied mass defects in length. The mass defect is a fundamental term in Physics that highlights the difference between the predicted mass and actual atomic mass, which is calculated by adding the neutron and proton mass in a nucleus. The formula to calculate the mass defect is 𝚫M = (Zip + Nmn) – MA. 

We covered what mass defect is, the concept of binding energy, and different types of binding energy with their brief introduction. We also discussed the applications of binding energy. We hope the mass defects study material has helped better understand this topic.