Question

The isotope cobalt-60 has a nuclear mass of 59.933820 u

Answer 1

Cobalt has an atomic number (Z) of 27, which means the nuclei of all its isotopes have 27 protons. Cobalt 60 has an atomic mass of 60, so it has 60-27 = 33 neutrons.

The mass of 27 isolated protons plus the mass of 33 isolated neutrons would be:

27*(1.007825 u) + 33*(1.008665 u) = 60.497220 u

The actual mass of the nucleus of 60-Co is 59.933820 u.

Mass defect: 60.497220 u - 59.933820 u = 0.563400 u

The mass defect is equal to the binding energy of a nucleus.
using the fact that 1 u = 931.5 MeV/c^2

(0.563400 u)*(931.5 MeV/u) = 524.807 MeV