The respective masses in amu of the proton, the neutron, and the nckel-60 atom are 1.00728, 1.00867, and 59.9308. What is the mass defect of the nickel-60 atom in g?
2 Answers
Explanation:
You're looking for mass defect,
The idea here is that the energy that is released when the nucleus is formed will decrease its mass as described by Albert Einstein's famous equation
In this regard, you can say that the actual mass of the nucleus will always be lower than the added mass of its nucleons.
Your goal here is to figure out the total mass of the protons and neutrons that make up a nickel-60 nucleus and subtract it from the known atomic mass of the nucleus.
Grab a periodic table and look for nickel,
The nickel-60 isotope has a mass number,
#A = Z + "no. of neutrons"#
#"no. of neutrons" = 60 - 28 = "32 neutrons"#
So, the total mass of the protons will be
#m_"protons" = 28 xx "1.00728 u" = "28.20384 u"#
The total mass of the neutrons will be
#m_"neutrons" = 32 xx "1.00867 u" = "32.27744 u"#
The total mass of the nucleuons will be
#m_"total" = m_"protons" + m_"neutrons"#
#m_"total" = "28.20384 u" + "32.27744 u" = "60.48128 u"#
The mass defect will be equal to
#Deltam = m_"total" - m_"actual"#
#Deltam = "60.48128 u" - "59.9308 u" = "0.55048 u"#
Now, to express this in grams, use the definition of the unified atomic mass unit,
#color(purple)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)("1 u" = 1.660539 * 10^(-24)"g")color(white)(a/a)|)))#
In your case, you will have
#0.55048 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("u"))) * (1.660539 * 10^(-24)"g")/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("u")))) = color(green)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)(9.1409 * 10^(-25)"g")color(white)(a/a)|)))#
The mass defect is
Explanation:
Mass defect is the amount of mass that is lost when protons and neutrons combine to form a nucleus. The protons and neutrons become bound to each other, and the binding energy that's released shows up as mass being lost because of the relation
Nickel-60 has a mass number of 60 and an atomic number of 28, thus 28 protons and 32 neutrons are bound together. The mass of the geee particles is given by:
Compare that with the given atomic mass of nickel-60
Mass defect =
Note the units. To get grams per atom divide by Avogadro's Number:
Go back to the molar basis and see how much energy this is in
This is tremendously larger than the energy changes associated in chemical reactions. This shows the potential power of the nuclear force and processes based on it.