- #1
Hercuflea
- 596
- 49
Homework Statement
The textbook on nuclear physics I am going through says:
"The atomic weight M of a nuclide of mass number A can be found in the mass difference, ##\Delta##, given in column 3. The quantity ##\Delta = M-A## gives the difference between the nuclides atomic weight and its atomic mass number, expressed in MeV."
Homework Equations
##\Delta = M-A##
The Attempt at a Solution
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My question is if the mass difference is defined to be the mass of a particle minus the sum of the masses of the particle's parts, why does a free neutron have a mass difference of ##\Delta = 8.0714 MeV## instead of ##\Delta = 0 MeV##?
Also, if the atomic weight of Carbon, (from the periodic table) is 12.011 amu and it's atomic mass A=12, then why is ##\Delta =M - A = 0## for Carbon?