I’m trying to simply things in dummy terms so I remember it easier rather than memorizing a definition I want to understand it on a basic level. A Neutron is an uncharged elementary particle that equals a protons mass in a nucleus this stabilizing it, I also know that in an atom there has to be equal amounts of neutrons and protons, and that the neutrons act as a sort of binder, so what sort of analogy or explanation could be used to describe it? Does a Neutron sort of act like the Mortar for a Brick Structure? Or like the glue that keeps protons from falling apart?
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Protons and neutrons stick together (because of the strong nuclear force). But protons push against each other as well because of their electric charge. They can’t push on neutrons tho because neutrons don’t have charge.
So if you have a neutron stuck to a proton, you can stick a proton to the pair and it’s more likely to stay stuck, because the neutron cuts the “charge per particle) is lower.
On the other side, though, is that, without charge, neutrons are only slightly sticky and they are less sticky with neutrons than protons. So they can pop apart pretty easily when they’re stuck to other neutrons. But since they stick to protons better than other neutrons when there’s a couple of protons around, they can clump better.
So there’s a balance between protons and neutrons in a nucleus. Too many protons and the “charge per particle” gets too high to be stable, but too many neutrons and it can’t hold together and breaks into parts. Enough of each and you get a stable nucleus.
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