zirconium-80 (IMAGE)

Michigan State University Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

zirconium-80

Caption

The deformed nucleus of zirconium-80 is lighter than the sum of the masses of its 40 protons and 40 neutrons. The missing mass is converted into binding energy through E=mc2. The binding energy is responsible for holding the nucleus together.

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Credit: Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

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