A web application to calculate the mass defect and nuclear binding energy per nucleon

The discovery of radioactivity proved that the energy stored in the nucleus could be released as radioactive particles' kinetic energy. Fission and fusion reactions generate enormous amounts of energy that could be used to generate electricity in nuclear power plants. The energy released or absorbed in these nuclear reactions comes from the different binding energies associated with each nucleus. Nuclear binding energy is the amount of energy required to keep a nucleus's protons and neutrons together, and nuclear power is the amount of energy released during nuclear fission or fusion. Each type of nucleus has its own binding energy, which is the amount of energy lost when its nuclei came together and are the same as the amount of energy needed to split them. The paper describes a web application for computing nuclear binding energy per nucleon. The calculation of nuclear binding energy in terms of MeV/ nucleon entails determining the mass defect and converting the mass defect into energy per nucleon. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The discovery of radioactivity demonstrated that energy in the nucleus can be released as kinetic energy of radioactive particles. Fission and fusion reactions generate large amounts of energy suitable for electricity generation in nuclear power plants. The binding energy associated with each nucleus determines the energy released or absorbed in these nuclear reactions. Nuclear binding energy refers to the energy required to keep protons and neutrons together in a nucleus, while nuclear power is the energy released during nuclear fission or fusion. Each nucleus has its own binding energy, which is equivalent to the energy needed to split the nucleus. The paper presents a web application for calculating nuclear binding energy per nucleon, which involves determining the mass defect and converting it into energy per nucleon.