Transcription: For any possible nuclei, the sum of the masses of the component particles is always greater than the mass of the nucleus which contains them. Let's do a thought experiment comparing the mass of a group of two electrons, two protons and two neutrons, shown on the left scale pan, and the mass of a helium atom, on the right scale pan. The combined mass of the separate components is, as you see, nearly 3757 MeV over c squared. of a helium atom is measured to be just over 3728 MeV over c squared, lower than the combined mass of the separate component particles. This small difference in mass is of c ...
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