Draw a graph showing the variation of binding energy per nucleon with mass number of different nuclei. State two inferences from this graph.

Explanation

The graph is shown in the

Two important inferences from this graph are :
(i) Nuclei in mass number range 30 - 170 are highly stable.
(ii) Nuclei of elements either having very small (A < 20) or very large (A > 208) value of mass number are unstable because their binding energy per nucleon is small.