2-Liquid Drop Model

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LIQUID DROP MODEL

- A non-rotating drop of liquid in the absence of gravitational or other external fields adjusts its
shape to minimize its energy. That shape is spherical and it minimizes the positive surface
tension energy.
- If the liquid is incompressible then the drop's density is constant, independent of radius R and R
is given R n1 / 3 , where n is the number of molecules in the drop.
- Let each molecule (except one in or near the surface) be bound in the drop with energy a;
this is the energy required to remove the molecule from the inside of the drop and is due to
the forces that can exist between molecules,
- Typically these forces are negligible at large separations, can become attractive at separations
comparable to the molecular size and become strongly repulsive at closer separations.
Volume energy. When an assembly of nucleons of the same size is packed together into the
smallest volume, each interior nucleon has a certain number of other nucleons in contact with it.
So, this nuclear energy is proportional to number of particle n in the volume. Equal to
an
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Surface energy. A nucleon at the surface of a nucleus interacts with fewer other nucleons than
one in the interior of the nucleus and hence its binding energy is less. This surface energy term
takes that into account and is therefore negative and is proportional to the surface area. Equal to
2/3
4R 2T (T is the surface tension) or n
- Therefore the binding energy B of the drop:

B an n 2 / 3
where contains all the constants of the surface term.
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- If the drop carries an electric charge Q, there is an extra term due to mechanical potential
energy of the charge distribution.
- If the charge is distributed uniformly in the surface, then that Coulomb energy is
8 0 R
3Q
- If it s distributed uniformly through the drop it is
.
20 0 R
Coulomb Energy. The electric repulsion between each pair of protons in a nucleus contributes
toward decreasing its binding energy.
- This energy decreases the binding energy, which becomes

B an n 2 / 3
Q 2
,
n1 / 3
where contains all the Coulomb effects.
- We now examine the analogy with nuclei. We assume that

(1) the nucleus is spherical;
(2) the nucleons in the nucleus behave like the molecules in a drop - that is there is a
short-range attractive force holding the nucleons together, and a shorter-range
repulsive force which stops the nucleons collapsing into one another,
(3) the nuclear density is constant.
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With these assumptions we can write down a formula for the nuclear binding energy B(Z,A) by
simple analogy, changing n A , and Q Z ,
B ( Z , A) av A as A2 / 3 ac
Z2
A1 / 3
where for nuclear case; av for volume term,

as for surface term,
ac for the Coulomb term.
First we note another important assumption: the nuclear binding of neutrons is identical
to that for the protons.
Therefore imagine two potential wells each with an associated set of energy levels that
are identical, one for the protons and one for the neutrons. These levels fill accordingly to
the Pauli exclusion principle because both neutron and proton are fermions (spin of half
integer).
- If Z=N, then both wells are filled to the same level (the Fermi level).
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- If we move one step away

from that situation, say in the
direction of N>Z, then one
proton must be changed into
a neutron (see Fig. 4.3).
- This state has energy E
greater than the initial state,
where E is the level spacing
at the Fermi level.
A second step in the same
direction causes the energy
excess to become 2xE.
Fig. 4.3
- A next step means moving a proton up 3 rungs as it changes from

proton to neutron and the excess becomes 3E.
- For 2 protons move to become 2 neutrons the excess energy
become 2x3E.
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In fact, listing in units of E, as each step (which changes proton to neutron) is made, we find the
changes require energy in units of E
1, 1, 3, 3, 5, 5, 7, ...
so that the cumulative effect is
1, 2, 5, 8, 13, 18, 25, 32,
for
unit E
N-Z = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, ,
Therefore to change from N-Z= 0 to N > Z, with A = N+Z held constant, requires an energy of
( N Z ) 2 E / 8 .
This is independent of whether it is N or Z that becomes larger and it means that, if all
other things are equal, nuclei with Z= N have less energy and are therefore more strongly
bound than a nucleus with Z N.
Thus we must add a term which reduces the binding energy when ZN. Since the energy
levels of a particle in a potential well have a spacing inversely proportional to the well
volume, we can put E A-1.
Therefore we include a term which reduces the binding energy for nuclei for which ZN.
This is the asymmetry term:
aA (Z N )2 / A
to be added to the binding energy formula.
- The pairing term. It reflects the fact that it is found experimentally that 2 protons or 2 neutrons
are always more strongly bound than 1 proton and 1 neutron. That is, like nucleons 'pair'.
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For odd A nuclei (Z even, N odd (eo) or Z odd, N even (oe)) this term is taken to be zero.
For even A nuclei there are two cases;
(1) Z odd, N odd (oo),
(2) Z even, N even (ee).
The binding energy will be greater for case 2 than for 1 so we add into the binding energy
formula a quantity (Z,A) for case 2 and subtract it for case 1. Bohr and Mottleson (1969) show
that it has the form
( Z , A)
aP
,
A1 / 2
a P 12 MeV,
fits the rather scattered data with a precision better than 1 MeV for all A > 20.
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Before putting the formula for binding energy together we note that there is one refinement that
is sometimes made.
The charge on the nucleus is carried in discrete units, one on each proton. The charge on the
proton does not interact with itself (or if the proton constituents do interact, that energy is already
included in the proton mass). It is therefore sensible to replace Z2 appropriate to a continuous
charge distribution by Z(Z-1) which is appropriate to this discreteness of the nuclear charges.
However, we do not do that: the reason is that the apparently best set of coefficients av, etc. has
been determined using the formula with Z2. In addition, the final precision of the formula is
probably not sufficient to allow improvements at this level to be discerned.
So putting all our terms together, we have
B ( Z , A) av A as A2 / 3 ac
Z2
( A 2Z ) 2
a
( z , A)
A
A1 / 3
A
The values of the coefficients have to be found by fitting to the binding energy data for medium
and heavy nuclei. The light nuclei (A<20) are not included as there is no smooth curve of
binding energy against A or Z due to the effects of shell closures.
The fit is not perfect because these effects persist throughout the periodic table and because some
nuclei are not spherical.
We have written the whole formula for the nuclear mass (Table 4.1) but as rest mass energy
hence the c2 attached to the real masses. Also shown is a favoured set of values for the
coefficients.
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Fig. 4.5 shows how the various contribution (Except the pairing term) change with A throughout
the periodic table.
Fig 4.5
What is surprising is that this formula is good from A20 to the end of the periodic table with a
precision beter than 1.5 present on the binding energy. This is shown in the case of the odd A
nuclei in Fig. 46.
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Fig 4.6
The binding energy as a function of A for odd-A nuclei from 15-259.
The solid points are prediction of semi empirical mass formula as given in Table 4.1
The open circles are measured values
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LIQUID DROP MODEL

- Therefore the binding energy B of the drop:

where contains all the constants of the surface term.

- This energy decreases the binding energy, which becomes

where contains all the Coulomb effects.

- We now examine the analogy with nuclei. We assume that

where for nuclear case; av for volume term,

- If we move one step away

- A next step means moving a proton up 3 rungs as it changes from

N-Z = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, ,

The binding energy as a function of A for odd-A nuclei from 15-259.

The open circles are measured values

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