Re: "kern", "kernel", "nucleus", "core"
- From: Robin Bignall <docrobin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:32:55 +0100
On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 02:38:37 GMT, Joe Fineman <joe_f@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>Charles Riggs <chriggs@éircom.net> writes:
>
>>>An atom has both a nucleus (the much smaller, positively charged body
>>>that keeps it together & gives it most of its mass)
>>
>> The nucleus gives it most of its mass, but protons don't keep it
>> together -- each having the same polarity of charge, they repel each
>> other. Don't neutrons help keep all nuclei but hydrogen's together?
>
>The antecedent of "that" is "body". The antecedent of "it" is
>"atom". The nucleus keeps the atom together, by attracting the
>electrons electrically.
>
>The protons in the nucleus indeed repel each other electrically, but
>are kept together, at least for a while, by the so-called strong
>force, which the neutrons also exert. It works out that the strong
>force cannot (quite) overwhelm the electrical repulsion unless there
>are some neutrons in the mixture. On the other hand, if there are too
>many neutrons, they are apt to decay, whereas protons are stable. It
>works out that stable light nuclei have to have about as many neutrons
>as protons, and stable heavy nuclei have to have more neutrons than
>protons. These things are actually sort of understood, and 47 years
>ago were actually sort of understood by me.
A fairly simple explanation, which mentions that the strong nuclear
force is accomplished by the exchange of mesons between nucleons, is
at
http://aether.lbl.gov/www/tour/elements/stellar/strong/strong.html
I, too, learned this stuff in the early 1960s and then promptly forgot
the details. I hope Paul keeps breathing long enough...
--
Robin
Hoddesdon, England
.
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- Re: "kern", "kernel", "nucleus", "core"
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