Accumulated experimental data on the binding energies for single-particle states in a broad range of nuclei is examined as a function of the constituent number of neutrons and protons and a simple pattern emerges. The dependence of the energies of neutron states on the number of constituent protons, or of proton states on the number of neutrons, behave similar to each other across the nuclear chart, and the sign reflects the well-known strong attraction. The change in energy of neutron states with neutron number or proton states with protons is approximately a factor of four weaker in magnitude and slightly repulsive, except when the changing nucleons are only within the same orbit as the state. These patterns in the experimental data underlie much of what is implicitly understood from nuclear models, but the consistency throughout the periodic table is remarkable.

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• Binding energy & masses
• Energy levels
• Nuclear data analysis & compilation