31.6 Exercise 3

$^{2} \text{H}$ is a loosely bound isotope of hydrogen. Called deuterium or heavy hydrogen, it is stable but relatively rare—it is 0.015% of natural hydrogen. Note that deuterium has $Z = N$, which should tend to make it more tightly bound, but both are odd numbers. Calculate $BE/ A$, the binding energy per nucleon, for $^{2} \text{H}$ and compare it with the approximate value obtained from the graph in the figure.