How come protons within atoms aren’t constantly repelling each other?
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They are. But there’s a stronger force holding them together. It’s called… “The Strong Force”. Physicists aren’t great with names.
More precisely, it’s called the “strong nuclear force”, and it does exactly what it says on the tin, it holds nuclei together, even though the electric charge of the protons constantly tries to force the nucleus apart.
It does this with an interaction between the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons. Basically, they all have special particles that they constantly pass between each other, (these are virtual pions and others) and when one of them tries to push away, that passing action pulls it back together.
They are, in the sense that there exists a repulsive electromagnetic force between them.
But there is another force operating on them as well, an attractive force that is many times more powerful than the electromagnetic force: the strong nuclear force. It is this force that allows protons (and neutrons) to stay tightly bound in the nucleus of an atom.
They are. But there’s a stronger force holding them together. It’s called… “The Strong Force”. Physicists aren’t great with names.
More precisely, it’s called the “strong nuclear force”, and it does exactly what it says on the tin, it holds nuclei together, even though the electric charge of the protons constantly tries to force the nucleus apart.
It does this with an interaction between the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons. Basically, they all have special particles that they constantly pass between each other, (these are virtual pions and others) and when one of them tries to push away, that passing action pulls it back together.
TLDR: They are, but other forces override this
The Nucleus of atoms is held together with what is aptly named the Strong Force.
This force is far stronger than the electromagnetic forces that cause Protons to repel each other, but it only works at very close ranges.
This is why it takes so much energy for Protons to fuse. The energy has to overcome the repulsion force until they are close enough for the Strong force to take over.
Just like forcing two positive ends of magnets together, they resist but the force you apply is strong enough to keep them together.
Neutrons also play a role. They can be thought of as creating a buffer between Protons that add stability to a nuclei. Without them the repulsive force of Protons breaks apart atomic nuclei and is partially responsible for why larger atoms decay into lighter ones.
They are electrically, but they’re attracted to other nucleons through the strong force which is about 1000 times stronger than the electromagnetic force over lengths not much larger than a nucleon diameter.
Protons by themselves in a nucleus aren’t stable and will tend to fly apart, but if you mix in a few neutrons it calms the protons down enough that they’re willing to hang with other protons in their general vicinity. This is a Goldilox situation. Too few neutrons and the protons will want to leave the nucleus. Too many neutrons and one may transform into a proton through beta decay.
They are. But there’s a stronger force holding them together. It’s called… “The Strong Force”. Physicists aren’t great with names.
More precisely, it’s called the “strong nuclear force”, and it does exactly what it says on the tin, it holds nuclei together, even though the electric charge of the protons constantly tries to force the nucleus apart.
It does this with an interaction between the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons. Basically, they all have special particles that they constantly pass between each other, (these are virtual pions and others) and when one of them tries to push away, that passing action pulls it back together.
They are electrically, but they’re attracted to other nucleons through the strong force which is about 1000 times stronger than the electromagnetic force over lengths not much larger than a nucleon diameter.
Protons by themselves in a nucleus aren’t stable and will tend to fly apart, but if you mix in a few neutrons it calms the protons down enough that they’re willing to hang with other protons in their general vicinity. This is a Goldilox situation. Too few neutrons and the protons will want to leave the nucleus. Too many neutrons and one may transform into a proton through beta decay.
They are electrically, but they’re attracted to other nucleons through the strong force which is about 1000 times stronger than the electromagnetic force over lengths not much larger than a nucleon diameter.
Protons by themselves in a nucleus aren’t stable and will tend to fly apart, but if you mix in a few neutrons it calms the protons down enough that they’re willing to hang with other protons in their general vicinity. This is a Goldilox situation. Too few neutrons and the protons will want to leave the nucleus. Too many neutrons and one may transform into a proton through beta decay.
Skimming through answers, and haven’t spotted the point that this short radius of effect of the Strong force is also why the highest elements become unstable – they reach the point where EM repulsion is barely contained by the Strong force
Skimming through answers, and haven’t spotted the point that this short radius of effect of the Strong force is also why the highest elements become unstable – they reach the point where EM repulsion is barely contained by the Strong force
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