Answer to Question #281841 in Mechanical Engineering for john luvis

Question

Using powers of 10, estimate the number of quantum states accessible to an outer electron on an atom, by estimating the size of an atom and knowing that typical binding energies are a few eV. (That is, if the kinetic energy is greater than a few eV then the electron is no longer on the atom.) The number of states = VrVp/h3.) 

Answer 1

Binding Energy :

The more tightly bound a system is, the stronger the forces that hold it together and the greater the energy required to pull it apart. We can therefore learn about nuclear forces by examining how tightly bound the nuclei are. We define the binding energy (BE) of a nucleus to be the energy required to completely disassemble it into separate protons and neutrons. We can determine the BE of a nucleus from its rest mass. The two are connected through Einstein’s famous relationship $E = (Δm)c^2$ . A bound system has a smaller mass than its separate constituents; the more tightly the nucleons are bound together, the smaller the mass of the nucleus.