Question

There are three isotopes of phosphorus. Only one of them is stable. Calculate the binding energy per nucleon (in MeV) for P-32 (atomic mass = 31.9739 u). mass H = 1.007825 u and mass n = 1.008665 u.

I multiplied the protons(15) by the mass H, and the neutrons(16) by the mass n. Then I subtracted the atomic mass(31.9739) by the calculated mass and got -.717885 amu and then I used E=mc^2 to find the energy and I divided that energy by 32, my final answer was 2.02e15 but its wrong.

Answer 1

You need to convert amu to kg. You can look up the factor on Google. E will come out in joules and you convert that to MeV.