The conversation between human and AI assistant.
Do protons and neutrons in nucleus have the same mass as when they are free, or is their mass larger/smaller due to mass defect?
That makes sense. Is this mass defect the same for every type of nucleus, or does it vary?
The amount of mass defect varies depending on the specific nucleus. The larger the nucleus, the greater the binding energy required to hold it together, and the larger the mass defect. Also, different isotopes of the same element can have different amounts of mass defect, depending on the number of neutrons in the nucleus.