What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to provide a mechanical rationale for nuclear binding energy and mass defect based on geometric principles.

January 14, 2026Open Access

The Mechanical Origin of Nuclear Binding Energy: Surface Area Minimization in Shared 2D Manifolds

Key Points

The study aims to provide a mechanical rationale for nuclear binding energy and mass defect based on geometric principles.
Utilized the Universal Sheet Tension (UST) Model to define nucleons as 3D inclusions.
Investigated the impact of surface area minimization when nucleons merge.
Analyzed the stability curve of elements within this mechanical framework.
Binding energy is shown to arise from surface area minimization of merging nucleons.
The study reinterprets radioactive decay as a failure in volumetric pressure of the shared manifold.
This approach eliminates the requirement for abstract exchange particles in explaining nuclear interactions.

Abstract

This paper provides a mechanical explanation for nuclear binding energy and the mass defect. Within the Universal Sheet Tension (UST) Model, nucleons are defined as 3D inclusions bounded by 2D manifolds. We demonstrate that binding energy is the result of surface area minimization when these inclusions merge, reducing the total potential energy stored in the sheet tension (τ). This geometric approach explains the stability curve of elements and redefines radioactive decay as a volumetric pressure failure of the shared manifold, eliminating the need for abstract exchange particles.

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