Question

n determining nuclear binding energy, what would you use Einstein's equation to do?

Answer 1

The difference between the mass of a nucleus and the sum of the masses of the nucleons of which it is composed is called the mass defect.  Three things need to be known in order to calculate the mass defect:

the actual mass of the nucleus, the composition of the nucleus (number of protons and of neutrons), the masses of a proton and of a neutron. To calculate the mass defect: add up the masses of each proton and of each neutron that make up the nucleus, subtract the actual mass of the nucleus from the combined mass of the components to obtain the mass defect.