Nuclear Physics I
Phys. 441
Yarmouk University
Physics Department
Jordan-Irbid 21163
Dr. Manal Abdallah
Chapter 3
Nuclear Properties
Mass and Abundance of Nuclides
3-4 Mass and Abundance of Nuclides
In analyzing nuclear reactions and decays one must use nuclear
masses. Using tables implies corrections to take into account the mass and
the binding energy of the electrons
Examples
Atom Binding energy of the electron total rest mass
H 13.6 eV 1.007825 u*
= 938.70100315 MeV/c2
𝐸𝐵𝑜ℎ𝑟 13.6
𝑀𝐻
=
938.799100315 = 1.45 x 10 -8
𝑁𝑢𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 8 x 10-3 **
Mass measurements and binding energies (nuclear forces) are
intimately related. These measurements are called Mass Spectrometry
* 1 u = 931.502 MeV/c2 = 1.660566x10-27kg
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** For Deuterium this ratio is (2.2/2.014102x931.502) 1.2x10-3. Deuterium is weakly bound
Nuclear Binding Energy – The Semiempirical Mass Formulae
The mass of the nucleus mNc2 (in MeV) is given by:
Z
𝒎𝑵𝒄𝟐 = 𝒎𝑨 𝒄𝟐 − 𝒁 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝟐 + i=1
𝐵i
Where:
mAc2 is the mass of the neutral atom (value found in tables),
mec2 is the rest mass of electron (in MeV) and
Bi is the binding energy for the i th electron
For an atom of atomic mass number A (number of nucleons = A), the mass is
mAc2 A x 1000 (MeV). mAc2 is of the order of 1 to 200 GeV
𝐵i
Bi 10-100 KeV for heavy atoms << mAc2, i.e. 𝑚𝐴 𝑐 2
≅ 10-6
We usually work with mass differences when dealing with nuclear decays or
Z
reactions, the term 𝐵
is neglected
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i
i=1
Binding Energy of a Nucleus
The binding energy of a nucleus AX is:
the difference between the mass of its components
(protons + neutrons) – its measured mass.
The measured mass of a nucleus is the difference between the
mass of the neutral atom and the mass of the electrons), i.e.
𝑩 = [𝒁 𝒎𝒑 𝒄𝟐 + 𝑵 𝒎𝒏 𝒄𝟐 – [𝒎(𝑨𝑿) 𝒄𝟐 − 𝒁 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝟐 ]
measured mass of a nucleus
Where 𝒎(𝑨𝑿) is the atomic mass of the neutral atom.
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𝑩 = 𝒁 𝒎(𝟏𝑯) 𝒄𝟐 + 𝑵 𝒎𝒏 𝒄𝟐 – 𝒎(𝑨𝑿) 𝒄𝟐
𝑩 = [𝒁 (𝒎𝒑 𝒄𝟐 + 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝟐) + 𝑵 𝒎𝒏 𝒄𝟐 – 𝒎(𝑨𝑿) 𝒄𝟐
𝑩 = 𝒁 𝒎(𝟏𝑯) 𝒄𝟐 + 𝑵 𝒎𝒏 𝒄𝟐 – 𝒎(𝑨𝑿) 𝒄𝟐
Where 𝒎(𝟏𝑯) = 𝒎𝒑 𝒄𝟐 + 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝟐 is the atomic mass of
the neutral hydrogen, and m(AX ) is the atomic mass of the
element X.
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Binding Energy for some nuclei
𝑩 = 𝒁 𝒎(𝟏𝑯) 𝒄𝟐 + 𝑵 𝒎𝒏 𝒄𝟐 – 𝒎(𝑨𝑿) 𝒄𝟐
Z m(1H) c2, N mn c2 and B/A are in MeV
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Neutron Separation Energy
The neutron separation energy (Sn) is the energy needed to remove
𝐴
𝑍𝑋𝑁
a neutron from a nucleus
This operation (reaction) is represented as follows:
𝐴 𝐴−1
𝑍𝑋𝑁 → 𝑍𝑋𝑁−1 + 10𝑛1
The separation energy is the difference between the
𝐴 𝐴−1
binding energies of 𝑍 𝑁 and 𝑍𝑋𝑁−1 , i.e.
𝑋
𝐴
𝑆𝑛 = 𝐵( 𝑍𝑋𝑁 ) – 𝐵( 𝐴−1𝑍𝑋𝑁−1 )
= [m( 𝐴−1
𝑍𝑋𝑁−1 ) – Z me + [m( 𝐴
𝑍𝑋𝑁
) – Z me] + mn]c2
= [m( 𝐴−1 ) – m( 𝐴
𝑍𝑋𝑁
) + mn]c2 3-19
𝑍𝑋𝑁−1
**** Note: this relation is valid wither the mass for nucleus or atom try it !!
The atomic masses (tables) are represented by m.
The letter M is reserved to the nuclear masses
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Proton Separation Energy
The proton separation energy (Sp) is the energy needed to
𝐴
remove a proton from a nucleus
𝑋 𝑍 𝑁
This operation (reaction) is represented as follows:
𝐴 𝐴−1
𝑍𝑋𝑁 → 𝑍−1𝑌𝑁 + 11𝑝0
The separation energy is the difference between the
𝐴 𝐴−1
binding energies of 𝑍 𝑁 and 𝑍−1𝑌𝑁, i.e.
𝑋
𝐴 𝐴−1
𝑺𝒑 = 𝑩( 𝑍𝑋𝑁 ) – 𝑩( 𝑍−1𝑌𝑁
)
= [𝒎( 𝐴−1
𝑍−1𝑌𝑁 ) – 𝒎( 𝐴
𝑍𝑋𝑁 ) + 𝒎(𝟏𝑯)]𝒄𝟐 3-20
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Sn , Sp and the shell structure of the nucleus
The proton separation energy (Sp) and the
neutron separation energy (Sn) are analogous
to the atomic ionization energies.
They, similarly, show a “shell” structure of the nucleus
(see Nuclear Models next chapter)
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