Quick questions on Nuclear fission, fusion and binding energy: HSC Physics Module 8

5short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.

What is binding energy per nucleon?

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The bound state of a nucleus is more meaningful when normalised by the number of nucleons:

What is rule for releasing energy?

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A nuclear process releases energy if the products have higher binding energy per nucleon than the reactants. Geometrically, this means the reaction moves the nucleons "uphill" on the binding-energy-per-nucleon curve, toward the iron peak.

What is q1?

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Define mass defect and binding energy and state their relationship via

E = mc^2

. [2 marks]

What is q2?

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Calculate the binding energy per nucleon for

^4

He given mass

= 4.0026 \text{ u}

, with

m_p = 1.00728 \text{ u}

and

m_n = 1.00867 \text{ u}

. [3 marks]

What is q3?

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A D-T fusion reaction

^2_1 \text{H} + ^3_1 \text{H} \to {}^4_2 \text{He} + n

releases

17.6 \text{ MeV}

. (a) Identify why fusion releases energy despite both reactants being light. (b) Calculate the mass defect in kg. (c) Compare fusion vs fission energy yield per unit reactant mass.

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