Difference between revisions 5759488 and 5759517 on simplewiki

A '''binding energy''' is the negative [[potential energy]] (''i.e.'', energy debt) pulling a bound system together.<ref name = "PotEnIsNeg">[http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/phase.html#c4 Why is the Potential Energy Negative?] ''HyperPhysics''</ref><ref>[[w:Frank Shu|Shu, Frank]]. [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=v_6PbAfapSAC&pg=PA66&dq=%22more+binding+energy+means+the+system+is+mo(contracted; show full)m, simply because this positive actual energy has a [[w:Mass in special relativity#Relativistic mass|relativistic mass]].<ref>''HyperPhysics'' - "Nuclear Binding Energy". ''C.R. Nave'', Georgia State University. Accessed 7 September 2010. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/nucbin.html</ref> Thus the bound system acquires a mass defect, or, which is the same (due to the [[mass–energy equivalence]]), a negative [[potential energy]].
<ref name="RestMass">Heighway, Jack. [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=13vIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 Einstein, the Aether and Variable Rest Mass]. HeighwayPubs, 2011, p. 36. "Understanding why rest masses are reduced in a gravitational field only requires a simple insight: '''''when an object is raised in a gravitational field, the gravitational potential energy increase is real, and exists as an increase, usually tiny, in the rest mass of the object.'''''"</ref>

From ''E''&nbsp;=&nbsp;''mc''<sup>2</sup>, it follows that '''''Binding energy'' = ''Mass change'' × ''c''<sup>2</sup>'''. Since the mass change is negative (a mass defect), the binding energy is negative too.

==See also==
*[[Minimum total potential energy principle]]
*[[Potential energy]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/nucbin.html Nuclear Binding Energy]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binding Energy}}
[[Category:Basic physics ideas]]
[[Category:Cosmology]]
[[Category:Energy]]