The Alpha Particle : Part 3 : Binding Energy

<p><strong>The Field Guide to Particle Physics <br></strong><a href="https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics">https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics</a><br>©2021 The Pasayten Institute <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">cc by-sa-4.0</a><br>The definitive resource for all data in particle physics is the Particle Data Group: <a href="https://pdg.lbl.gov/">https://pdg.lbl.gov</a>.</p><p>The Pasayten Institute is on a mission to build and share physics knowledge, without barriers! <a href="http://pasayten.org/heysean">Get in touch</a>.</p><p><strong>A few References and Resources for you.</strong></p><p>Isotopes of Helium:<br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_helium">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_helium</a></p><p>Helium Fact Sheet from NIST:<br><a href="https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/inchi/InChI%3D1S/He">https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/inchi/InChI%3D1S/He</a></p><p>We've got fun details about <a href="https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics/proton">Protons</a>, <a href="https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics/neutron">Neutrons</a> and the <a href="https://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics/nucleus">atomic nucleus</a> on our <a href="http://pasayten.org/the-field-guide-to-particle-physics">Field Guide website</a>.</p><p>Some helpful links to ideas about nuclear binding energy:<br><a href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/NucEne/nucbin.html">http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/NucEne/nucbin.html</a><br><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_binding_energy">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_binding_energy</a><br>... and that <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Binding_energy_curve_-_common_isotopes.svg">famous plot</a>.</p><p><strong>The Alpha Particle<br>Part 3 - Binding Energy<br></strong><br>At this point you might be wondering. This is all great, but helium is a chemical element. It’s a gas. What on Earth does helium have to do with parti