Binding Energy curve
This plot shows roughly the variation of binding energy per
nucleon among the different chemical element isotopes.
The x-axis is the number of nucleons found in the nucleus of
the element, so heavier elements are on the right.
You can see that if you ignore the lighter nuclei (below around
C-12) of the isotopes, the average binding energy is relatively
constant for the great majority of nuclei.
It’s around 8 MeV per nucleon. The peak is at the iron nucleus
Fe-56 which is therefore one of the most stable nuclei.
Later we’ll use this curve to show that energy is produced
when heavy elements such at Uranium split to form two
lighter, roughly equal, masses (a process called fission)
- or where very light elements, such as hydrogen, are brought
together and fuse to form heavier elements. This process is
called fusion.