Fe 8 yield from nuclear fission TTTTTTTT The "iron group" of isotopes are the most tightly bound. 62 Ni (most tightly bound) 28 58 26 Fe 56 Fe Binding energy per nuclear particle (nucleon) in MeV Elements heavier than iron can yield energy by nuclear fission 26 have 8.8 Mev: per nucleon yield from binding energy. nuclear fusion N Average mass of fission fragments is about 118. 235 U 1 1 50 150 200 238 100 Mass Number, A To understand the strong force that binds the nuclei together we want to calculate the binding energy for 238U. a) How many protons, neutrons and electrons are in one 3892U atom? b) What would be the weight of all these protons, neutrons and electrons if they were all free particles? Give the answers in Kg, MeV and amu. c) The weight of one 238U atom is determined experimentally to be 238.05 amu. Using the result from b), what is the average binding energy for a nucleon in 238U? d) Use the graph above to explain briefly the concept of nuclear fission and fusion and give two examples for each, where these processes happen