2 convenient units

1
Unified mass unit, u  12 the mass of a neutral C12 atom

by definition (of a mole) 1 mole, C12 = 12 grams

1 gram = 1.6604310 -24
gram = 1.6604310 -27
kg
1u =
6.0225210 23

the electron volt, eV

Energy acquired by a particle with 1e charge when
accelerated through a potential difference of 1 volt.

1eV = 1.60210-19 Coul-volt = 1.60210-19 joule

 1eV = 1.60210-19 Coul-volt = 1.60210-19 joule

1u c = 1.6604310
2 c2
-27
kg
1.60210-19 joule/eV

= 1.6604310 -27
kg (2.99810 8
m/sec) 2

1.60210-19 joule/eV

1u c 2 = 9.315825108 eV = 931.58 MeV

1u = 931.58 MeV/c 2
Rest mass energy can be measure in terms of eV or MeV.
Sometime mass is measure in the convenient unit of MeV/c2.
 1 keV = 103 eV
1 MeV = 106 eV
1 GeV = 109 eV
1 TeV = 1012 eV

• 1012 tera (trillion)

• 109 giga (billion, “80 Gigabyte hard drive”)
• 106 mega (million, “128 Megabytes of RAM”)
• 103 kilo (thousand, 1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds)

• 10– 2 centi (hundredth, 1 in. = 2.54 cm)

• 10– 3 milli (thousandth, “milliVolt”)
• 10– 6 micro (millionth, micron=micrometer=10-6m)
• 10– 9 nano (billionth, “nanosecond”)
• 10– 12 pico (trillionth)
• 10– 15 femto
With the nuclear volume  the number of nucleons A

the nuclear force is not sufficient to contract

the nucleus to higher densities at its center.
the nuclear force saturates

the density of nucleons in the nucleus ~ constant

Liquid Drop Model
1935-36 Bohr & von Weizsäcker

Cross Section measurements help fix

the effective range of the nuclear force

Precision mass measurements reveal binding energies that

tell us even more about the strength of the nuclear force
Particle symbol rest energy in MeV
or mass in MeV/c2

electron e 0.5109989

muon  105.658357

neutral pion 0 134.9766

charged pion  139.57018

proton p 938.27200

neutron n 939.56533

deuteron H2 1875.580

triton H3 2808.873

alpha  (He4) 3727.315

Know from relativity E and m intimately related

Rest mass energy: E =moc2

For a free particle, total energy: E= T + m oc 2
=  moc2 = Eo

with p2 = 2m2v2 = 2 Eo2v2/c4 then

2
v
E – p c =  E ( 1  2 )
2 2 2 2
o
2

c
 v 2 
or E2 = p2c2 + Eo2  2  1 / 1  2 
 c 
 and so: T  KE = moc2 (  - 1) = c2 m

Work done by an unbalanced force increases an object’s energy from

a rest mass of moc2  moc2

or increases it’s mass from

mo   mo

If balanced or resisted by a restoring force: increases an object’s

POTENTIAL ENERGY
Proton billiards: consider the head-on collision between 2 protons:
m0 m0
2 2
Einitial  m0c  m0c

2
' ( 2m0 )c

2 2
E final  m0c  m0c
2 2
' (2m0 )c  (1   )m0c '  (1   ) / 2
revealing the intermediate state of “bound” protons to have a mass of
' ( 2m0 )  (1   )m0 > 2m0 !!!
 or consider the same collision in the center of momentum frame:
E=m0c2 E=m0c2

Einitial  m0c 2  m0c 2

so here can’t have E=2m0c2

Einitial  m0c 2  m0c 2

2 2
E  2m0c  2m0c
The intermediate system of protons has more mass than two protons!
For a repulsive potential
combined rest mass > sum of the individual rest masses

For an attractive potential

combined rest mass < sum of the individual rest masses
Rest energies
of a proton + neutron = 938.27200+939.56533 = 1877.83733 MeV

while of a deuteron H2 = 1875.61269 MeV

2.22464 MeV

A deuteron cannot spontaneously decay into a proton and a neutron.

To break up a deuteron 2.22464 MeV

must be added by bombarding deuterons
with an energetic beam of particles or
electromagnetic radiation.

Neutrons from a reactor striking protons are sometimes “captured”

through the reaction
n+pd+
For the alpha particle m= 0.0304 u which gives
28.3 MeV binding energy!
 For “bound states” the binding energy, B>0
representing the energy required to disintegrate the
nucleus (into individual neutrons and protons)

B
2
 Zm p  ( A  Z ) mn  M nucleus ( A, Z )
c
B
2
 Z ( m p  me )  ( A  Z ) mn  M neutral atom ( A, Z )
c
B
2
 Zm H  ( A  Z ) mn  M neutral atom ( A, Z )
c
 Working in atomic mass units, u

the difference between atomic rest mass energy M(A,Z)

and atomic mass number A  u

is called the MASS DEFECT (or “mass excess”)

  M ( A, Z )  Au

Notice with Au  Zmp + (A-Z)mn

this is essentially the same as the Binding Energy
 follows the conventions of mass spectroscopy measurements
 Peaks at ~8.795 MeV near A=60

for A>50
~constant
8-9 MeV
Binding energy per nuclear
particle (nucleon) in MeV

Mass Number, A
This confirms the short range ascribed to the nuclear force…
it must involve only nearest neighbor nuclei

If the binding involved contributions from all nucleons

 the total number of pair-wise bonds
A( A  1)  A2
B
then A (not constant!)
A
 Nuclear Binding Energy Curve
The binding energy curve is obtained by dividing the total nuclear binding energy by the
number of nucleons. The fact peak in the binding energy curve near iron means that
either the breakup of heavier nuclei (fission) or the combining of lighter nuclei (fusion)
will yield nuclei which are more tightly bound (less mass per nucleon).
The binding energies of nucleons are in the range of millions of electron volts compared
to tens of eV for atomic electrons. Whereas an atomic transition might emit a photon in
the range of a few electron volts, perhaps in the visible light region, nuclear transitions
can emit gamma-rays with quantum energies in the MeV range.

The iron limit:

The buildup of heavy elements by the nuclear fusion processes in stars is limited to
elements below iron, since the fusion of iron would subtract energy rather than provide it.
Iron-56 is abundant in stellar processes, and with a binding energy per nucleon of 8.8
MeV, it is the third most tightly bound of the nuclides. Its average binding energy per
nucleon is exceeded only by 58Fe and 62Ni, the nickel isotope being the
most tightly bound of the nuclides.
The Most Tightly Bound Nuclei 62
Ni
M. P. Fewell, American Journal of Physics.
(56Fe actually comes in a close third)

B/A (keV/A)

 
62
Ni 8794.60 +/- 0.03
58
Fe 8792.23 +/- 0.03
56
Fe 8790.36 +/- 0.03
60
Ni 8780.79 +/- 0.03
                   

                           
    

The most tightly bound nuclides are all even-even nuclei.

The high binding energy of the “iron group” of around A=60 is significant in
the understanding of the synthesis of heavy elements in the stars.
The Semi-emperical Mass Formula
is an approximate fit to all this data

To 0th order: M ( A, Z )  Zm p  ( A  Z )mn

The 1st correction to this (the “mass defect” or binding energy)

EV   av A ~proportional to volume
B/A (MeV)

true enough for

very small A !

A
 But the nuclei at the surface have fewer nearest-neighbor bonds!
So we’ve obviously over-estimated!
by something  the nucleus’ surface area

recall
2/3
Es   as A r  A1 / 3

With these effects alone,

all isobars might be expected to be stable
though clearly we’ve seen
a narrow band of stability in the N vs A plane
for light nuclides: N=Z (A = 2Z)
for heavy nuclides: A>2Z

There’s a repulsive Coulomb energy building up with all those protons!

Coulomb Energy The work done in collecting and compacting
total charge Q into a sphere of volume 4 R 3.
3

potential at the surface of a spherical concentration of charge

kq Q
with charge density:  
R ( 4 / 3)r 3
so at r:
k (4r 3 / 3)  Q  4 r 3
/ 3  r 2
V  k    kQ
r  4R 3 / 3  r  R3

Bringing an additional dq=4r2dr to the surface at r requires:

kQ 2 2 kQ 4 5
Vdq  3 r  4r dr  3
r dr
R R
Coulomb Energy
kQ 4 R 5 kQ 4 Q 1 5
Integrating: 3 0 r dr  3 3
R
R R 4R / 3 5

 1  3Q 2 1
  
 4 0  5 R
Motivating us to add a correction term for this Coulomb energy
e2 Z(Z-1)e2  Q2
 Z ( Z  1)
R
number of pairings RA1/3

1/ 3
Ec  ac Z ( Z  1) A
B  av A  a s A  ac Z ( Z  1) A
2/3 1 / 3

Coulomb term
volume term accounts for
grows with (repulsive) energy
addition of built up in the
each interacting accumulation
nuclei of protons
surface term
corrects for
nuclei at the
surface (not
completely
surrounded by
nearest neighbors)
 A = 127
Mass defect  (MeV) isobars
-80 -80

-84 -84

-86 -86

-88 -88

50 52 54 56
Atomic number, Z
 Think of
the stability band
as a contour map
of a valley:

A consequence of the exclusion principal: less economical (more

expensive in energy) to have more of one type of nucleon than the other:

2
(A/ 2  Z)
  a
symmetry sym
A
Like the “closed shell” electronic configurations of the noble gases
we see “magic numbers” recurring…marking tightly bound,
extraordinarily stable nuclear configurations.
=4He (with Z=N=2) and 16O (Z=N=8) are doubly magic!

including to a lesser extent, marked stability for nuclei with

paired protons and/or paired neutrons
(like the closed energy levels of atomic orbitals
where electrons with opposite spins cancel)

Since nuclei with paired protons or paired neutrons

tend to be more tightly bound, we introduce the
pairing energy term:
ap
 A3 / 4
even Z, N
 ( A)  0 Z=N=0
a
A p
3/ 4 odd Z, N
volume term surface term Coulomb term
grows as corrects for repulsion due
nuclei added surface nuclei to protons

B  av A  a s A  ac Z ( Z  1) A
2/3 1 / 3

2
(A/ 2  Z)
 asym   ( A)
A
symmetry term pairing energy term
drives number of increased stability
protons ≈ neutrons for paired nuclei
 2
M ( A, Z )  Zm p  ( A  Z )mn  B( A, Z )c

2/3 1 / 3
B( A, Z )  av A  as A  ac Z ( Z  1) A
2
 asym ( A / 2  Z ) / A   ( A, Z )

av=15.5 MeV ac=0.72 MeV

ap=34.0 MeV
as=16.8 MeV asym=23.0 MeV
Atomic shell model Nuclear shell model

each nucleon, separately occupies its own energy level,

with each nucleon-type (p,n)
filling energy levels separately

Each energy level, n exists with an angular quantum number:

each with a different
s p d f g … angular wave function
ℓ = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, …
Yℓ,m(,)
Because of spin (2 possible orientations of each nucleon)
any energy level n,ℓ accommodates
These are different particles –
2ℓ+1 protons They don’t
2ℓ+1 neutrons mutually exclude each other!

coupled with spin:

s: ℓ = 0 s1/2 J=0+½
The total (magnitude)
of J is limited to
p1/2
-|ℓ-s|…|ℓ+s|
p: ℓ = 1
p3/2 in unit steps!

d3/2
d: ℓ = 2
d5/2

f 5/2
f: ℓ = 3
f 7/2
There is a 1f5/2 energy level that can hold
5
2( ) ????
1  6 protons with different mj values
2
and another that can hold 6 neutrons.
Consider:
27
13 Al (ground state)
2 4 2 5
Protons: (1s1/2) (1p3/2) (1p1/2) (1d5/2)
2 4 2 6
Neutrons: (1s1/2) (1p3/2) (1p1/2) (1d5/2)
1 un-paired proton with j=5/2
so aluminum: I=5/2
Consider:
9
Be (ground state)
2 2
p: (1s1/2) (1p3/2) (1p1/2) (1d5/2)
2 3
n: (1s1/2) (1p3/2) (1p1/2) (1d5/2)
1 un-paired neutron with j=3/2 so: I=3/2
Consider:
9
B (ground state)
2 3
p: (1s1/2) (1p3/2) (1p1/2) (1d5/2)
2 2
n: (1s1/2) (1p3/2) (1p1/2) (1d5/2)
1 un-paired proton with j=3/2 so: I=3/2
Magnetic Dipole Moment
classically B

energy Emag = -B

1
= c
current  area
For a point particle q, velocity v, circular orbital radius r
v
I q
2r frequency!
 1
 = c current  area

1 
= c q
v 
 r 
2 1 qvr
= c =
q
(mvr )
 2r  2 2mc
L
 q 
 L but maybe too classical!
2mc
 
We still expect   J quantum mechanically
and write  e  g measures the
g J (expected)
2mc deviation from
quantum mechanically
J is quantized!  e  g 0 j
J  j  g j
2mc 0 = “magneton”
For atomic physics (involving electrons)
“Bohr magneton”
e 14
B   0.5788 10 MeV / G
2me c
5
 5.7885 10 eV / T
For nuclear physics
“nuclear magneton”
e
N   3.1525 1018 MeV / G
2m p c
 3.15255 108 eV / T

For the neutron: g= 3.826083 0.0000018  0 !