Nuclear chemistry binding energy

Figure 11.4 Mean binding energy per nucleon as a function of A. From G. Friedlander, J. W. Kennedy, E. S. Macias, and J. M. Miller, Nuclear and Radio chemistry, copyright 1981 by John Wiley and Sons. Reprinted by permission of John Wiley Sons.

A helium atom ( He) contains 2 protons, 2 neutrons, and 2 electrons. Using the masses listed in Table 5-1, calculate the mass of a mole of helium atoms. Compare the calculated value to the listed atomic weight of helium. Erom your calculated value, which isotopes of heUum might you find in a natural sample of helium (This question ignores binding energy, a topic discussed in Chapter 26, Nuclear Chemistry.)... 

We are here at the starting-point of a sort of nuclear chemistry, the laws of which, as in the example just given, can be written down in a form exactly analogous to chemical formula). (We can also add the binding energies, which are analogous to heat evolved or absorbed, and which must exactly compensate the kinetic energies of the particles.)... 

Many of the exciting scientific theories of a hundred years ago originated with chemists such as Stoney, who postulated the existence of electrons, and those who formulated the periodic law of the elements. Van t Hoff, the father of stereochemistry, was also the first Nobel laureate. A chemist named van den Broek introduced the concept of atomic number, and another chemist named Harkins postulated the neutron and first mooted the idea of a mass defect as the origin of nuclear binding energy. Not only the chemists of the era but also the subject area of chemistry produced spectacular theoretical advances. The physicist Lord Rutherford, who is purported to have stated... 

---