Nuclear binding energy — UPSC Physics Optional CSE 2026 Paper II

What do you understand by the packing fraction 'f' and the binding energy 'E_b' of a nucleus? Draw the graphs for packing fraction f versus mass number (A) and binding energy fraction f_b \left(= \dfrac{E_b}{A}\right) versus mass number (A). Further, explain how the graphs of the variation of f and f_b with A have complementary approaches.