Question

A carbon-12 atom has a mass defect of 0.09564 amu. Which setup is used to calculate nuclear binding energy?

Answer 1

A carbon-12 atom has 6 protons, it differs from the regular carbon in the number of neutrons, it ha 6 neutrons.
The binding energy is the energy needed to put in to split the nucleus into individual protons and neutrons. To get the binding energy we add the masses of individual protons, neutrons and electrons, then subtract the mass of the atom, and convert that mass difference to energy. In other words we convert the mass defect into energy.  1 amu = 1.660540 × 10^-27 kg, and the mass defect is 0.09564 amu
Therefore the correct answer is a;
0.09564 amu x (1.6606 x 10–27 kg)/amu x (3.0 x 10^8)²

Answer 2

a. 0.09564 amu x  (1.6606 x  10–27 kg)/amu x (3.0 x  108)2  

b. 0.09564 amu x  1 amu/(1.6606 x  10–27 kg) x  (3.0 x 108)2

c. 0.09564 amu x  (3.0 x 108)2

d. 0.09564 amu x  (1.6606 x  10–27 kg)/amu x  (3.0 x  108)  

Answer: first option (a) 0.09564 amu x  (1.6606 x  10–27 kg)/amu x (3.0 x  108)2