Physicsatoms-and-nuclei2009medium
The above is a plot of binding energy per nucleon Eb, against the nuclear mass M;A,B,C,D,E,F correspond to different nuclei. Consider four reactions :
\eqalign{
& \left( i \right)\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,A + B \to C + \varepsilon \,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\left( {ii} \right)\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,C \to A + B + \varepsilon \,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\, \cr
& \left( {iii} \right)\,\,\,\,\,\,D + E \to F + \varepsilon \,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\left( {iv} \right)\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,F \to D + E + \varepsilon ,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\,\, \cr}
where ε is the energy released? In which reactions is ε positive?