The amount by which the mass of an atom is less than the sum of the masses of its constituent protons, neutrons, and electrons expressed in units of energy. This energy difference accounts for the stability of the atom. In principle, the binding energy is the amount of energy which was released when the several atomic constituents came together to form the atom. Most of the binding energy is associated with the nuclear constituents (protons and neutrons), or nucleons, and it is customary to regard this quantity as a measure of the stability of the nucleus alone.