Subjject: Ph

hysics
Cllass: B.S
Sc.
Yeaar: III Year
N
Name o the Paaper: Solid
of So Staate and Nuclear
N r Physicss
T
Topic: N r Physics
Nuclear
Su
ub-topicc: Nucleear Moddels
Keyw
words: Nuclear
N m
model, L
Liquid drrop modeel, Magic numbeer and
Semi empiricaal mass formula
fo

Drr. Manissh Kum

mar Tiw
wari
D
Departm
ment off Physiccs
Facultyy of Sciience an
nd Tech
hnologyy
Mahattma Gandhi Kashi
K Vidyapith
h, Varan
nasi 02
E-maail:mannn.bhu11
1@gmaiil.com
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-Dr Manish Kumar Tiwari 

 Department of Physics
Faculty of Science & Technology, MGKVP Varanasi 221002
B.Sc. III (Paper-II, UNIT-III (Nuclear Models))

Nuclear Models

Nucleus of an atom consist protons and neutrons held together in a very small central

region of an atom. The knowledge of arrangement of nucleons inside nucleus i.e. nuclear

structures may give satisfactory answers for all experimentally observed properties of

nuclear physics. Several models of nucleus such as liquid drop model, shell models etc.

were proposed to give satisfactory theory of nuclear structures. The brief introduction of

few nuclear models is discussed as follow.

Liquid drop model

Liquid drop model was proposed by N. Bohr and F. Kalker in 1937. The liquid drop

model of nucleus is based on some observed macroscopic properties of nucleus such as

constant density of nuclear matter and constant binding energy of nucleons which are

very analogous to that of properties of liquid droplets. Other some important properties

of nucleus resemble with liquid drops is discussed as follows.

1. The attractive force at the surface of nucleus is very similar to the surface tension

on the surface of liquid droplets.

2. In liquid drop model of nucleus the density of nuclear matter is independent of its

volume similarly in liquid drops the density of matter is independent of its volume.

3. The internal energy of nucleus i.e. binding energy per nucleon is analogous to the

latent heat of liquid drops.

By: Dr Manish Kumar Tiwari

Department of Physics, MGKVP, Varanasi 221002
 Department of Physics
Faculty of Science & Technology, MGKVP Varanasi 221002
B.Sc. III (Paper-II, UNIT-III (Nuclear Models))
4. The emission of particles e.g. neutrons, protons, deuterons etc from nucleus during

nuclear reactions is analogous to the emission of molecules from liquid drops

during the process of evaporation.

5. If a nuclear particle is bombarded over nucleus then that incident particle gets

absorbed by the nucleus and a short lived compound is formed. The formation of

short lived compounds by such absorption is analogous to the condensation of

liquid vapour to the liquid phase in liquid drops.

Merits

The liquid drop model of nucleus is able to explain the binding energy of the nucleus,

atomic masses and nuclear fusion reactions.

Demerits

The liquid drop model is fail to explain magic numbers, nuclear spin, magnetic moment,

quadrupole moment and low lying excited states of nucleus etc.

Semi-empirical Mass Formula or Bethe-Weizsacker Formula

The semi-empirical mass formula was developed by C.F. Von Weizsacker and H.A.

Bethe. Semi-empirical mass formula or Bethe-Weizsacker Formula is based on Liquid

drop model of Bohr and Kalkar. In semi-empirical mass formula the binding energy of

nucleus is calculated which depends on different physical properties of the nucleus.

By: Dr Manish Kumar Tiwari

Department of Physics, MGKVP, Varanasi 221002
 Department of Physics
Faculty of Science & Technology, MGKVP Varanasi 221002
B.Sc. III (Paper-II, UNIT-III (Nuclear Models))
Let ( , ) is the atomic mass of an element for which atomic number and mass

number are and respectively. Then

( , )= +( − ) −

Here, is the nuclear binding energy, and are masses of individual proton and

neutron respectively.

According to semi-empirical mass formula the binding energy of nucleus is

represented as follows

= + + + +

Here, the volume energy term =

/
Surface energy term =−

Columbian energy term =− /

( )
Asymmetric energy term =−

is the pairing energy term.

Thus the binding energy of the nucleus may be written as

/ ( )
= − − /
− +

, , are constant for which the accepted values are given a follows.

= 0.016919

= 0.019114

By: Dr Manish Kumar Tiwari

Department of Physics, MGKVP, Varanasi 221002
 Department of Physics
Faculty of Science & Technology, MGKVP Varanasi 221002
B.Sc. III (Paper-II, UNIT-III (Nuclear Models))
= 0.007626

= 0.02544

Magic Numbers

In the year 1933 W.M. Elasser was the first who point out that there are certain numbers

of protons/neutrons called magic numbers for which the binding energy hence stability

is fairly large as compared to their neighboring elements. The magic number for proton

and neutrons are as follows

Protons: 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82

Neutrons: 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126

These magic numbers are analogous to the atomic numbers of inert gases. In addition to

above stated magic numbers a number 40 for neutrons/protons called semi magic

number.

References
Nuclear Physics: S.N. Ghoshal (S. Chand Publication)
Perspectives of Modern Physics: A. Beiser
Atomic and Nuclear Physics: T.A. Littlefield and N. Thoreley
Quantum Mechanics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei and Particles: Eisenberg and
Resnik (John Wiley).

By: Dr Manish Kumar Tiwari

Department of Physics, MGKVP, Varanasi 221002