Reflating the nucleus: The pachydermous droplet model

It is shown that the excessive squeezing characteristic of the leptodermous droplet model can be eliminated by taking into account the finite thickness of the nuclear surface. The same objective was achieved in the finite-range droplet model by the introduction of an exponential correction term, but this model breaks down at the large deformations encountered in fission barriers. With this term now being seen to be superfluous, a unified droplet-model treatment of masses and fission barriers becomes possible.