Liquid Drop Model: Why is Mass of Nucleus a Minus Away?

[quietrain]

the atomic nucleus mass is given by

but why is it a minus away of binding energy / c² = mass of the empty parts of the nucleus?

shouldn't it be a plus?

mass of nucleus = proton mass + neutron mass + mass of empty parts of the nucleus?

 

[xts]

Binding energy is an energy you must provide to separate nucleons. So you have energy conservation: mass of nucleus + energy required to separate nucleons = sum of masses of nucleons

 

[quietrain]

oh i see than kyou