Masses and Binding energies

The nucleon masses are $$ m_p = 938.27203(8)\hspace{0.1cm} \mathrm{MeV}/c^2 = 1.00727646688(13)u, $$ and $$ m_n = 939.56536(8)\hspace{0.1cm} \mathrm{MeV}/c^2 = 1.0086649156(6)u. $$

In the 2003 mass evaluation there are 2127 nuclei measured with an accuracy of 0.2 MeV or better, and 101 nuclei measured with an accuracy of greater than 0.2 MeV. For heavy nuclei one observes several chains of nuclei with a constant \( N-Z \) value whose masses are obtained from the energy released in \( \alpha \)-decay.