Nucleus of an atom

Factual Questions
1

What holds the nucleus of an atom together,

I’ve heard it described as the hand of Jesus once,

But most people say “uh I don’t know”

do any of you know?

2

I believe it is the Strong Nuclear Force.

Nature is divided into 4 fundamental forces:

(in no particular order)

  • Strong Nuclear Force: What holds atoms together
  • Weak Nuclear Force: Radioactivity
  • Electromagnetic Force: Light, Radio, etc.
  • Gravitational Force: What keeps us from flying off the earth (also by FAR the weakest force and also the only force you can’t shield yourself against…no antigravity rooms yet).
3

It is most distinctly not the hand of Jesus, unless you consider all of nature to be equally the hand of Jesus…

A very BRIEF description of physics:

The standard theory holds that the universe is held together by 4 primary forces. They are in order, of decreasing strength:

The Electromagnetic Force
The Strong Nuclear Force
The Weak Nuclear Force
Gravity

Each of these forces operates to create all that we see around us. Electromagnetic forces are what keeps the atoms attached to other atoms, and keeps electrons in orbit around nuclei. The Strong Nuclear force is the one you are looking for. It keeps the protons and neutrons attached to each other inside of the nuclei. The Weak Nuclear Force has a hand in regulating certain types of decay reactions, but its fairly exotic, and you are unlikely to run into it very often. Gravity, while common, is a bit of a mystery, and seems to act to hold all things matter in contact with all other matter, albeit very weakly.

According to the standard theory, each of these forces is regulated by particles called “force carriers.” These particles are exchanged between particles to hold them together. The force carrier for the electromagnetic force is the “photon.” It is so called because this is the particle of light. The force carrier of the Strong Force (which holds the nucleus together) is called the “gluon” (litterally “glue particle”, i.e. sticks stuff together). the Weak force is carried (IIRC) by W and Z bosons, which are bizarre little particles, and gravity would be carried by particles called “gravitons” which have been theorized, but never actually isolated.

Each of these “forces” has different distance/strength relationships. What this means is that while the electromagnetic magnetic force and gravity, though very different in “strength” can be felt over considerably large distances. The nuclear forces reduce to a strength that is functionally zero at distances greater than the size of a nucleus. To put it another way, even though gravity is much weaker, its strength changes less dramatically over a long distance than does the comparitively stronger Strong and Weak forces.

To summarize the whole mess above:

The nucleus is held together by a fundemental force known as The Strong Nuclear Force. It operates by nuclear particles exchanging force carrier particles known as “gluons” (lit: glue particles). The force decays rapidly over distance, so that such a force does not operate on distances greater than a few angstroms (Angstrom=1x10^-10 meters). That is what holds the nucleus together.

4

Science a la Jack Chick huh?

Possible, I suppose kinda like he stopped up the anuses (ani) of the animals on the ark for well of a year. Not to start anything OT but I love :rolleyes: resurfacing creationist dribble…

5

jayron 32

Good description. But the strong nuclear force must be stronger than electromagnetic force within its range or the mutual electrostatic repulsion of the protons would overcome the strong force’s attraction. I think (but am not sure) that the weak force is also stronger than electromagnetic. I’m sure you are correct that gravity is by far the weakest.

(If it is the hand of Jesus, I’d really like to see what Bible verse(s) is(are) used to justify that.) :rolleyes:

6

http://chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_19.htm

Read all aboutit for yourself in the talk.origins archive

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/bigdaddy.html

7

Dr. Matrix:

Thanks, I may have gotten the order there mixed up a bit, as I was writing from memory and not from a direct reference. You’re probably right in the Strong force being considerably stronger than E-M, seeing as pulling apart the nucleus of an atom releases a LOT more energy than does pulling an electron off of an atom. But I’m fairly certain that I got the mechanics of the whole thing correct.

8

You were correct that the plural of “anus” is “anuses.” An ani is a type of bird. (Why would they only stop up one kind on the ark? hmmmm…)

9

jayron 32

I liked your explanation. I just wanted to correct the order of the forces.

jakanapes

Thank you. :rolleyes:

10

IIRC, the stronger the force, the shorter its effective range. Therefore, the Strong Nuclear Force is the strongest but only acts within the radius of a nucleus, while gravity is the weakest, but affects the movement of galactic clusters.

11

IIRC, the current issue of Discover has an article on how the mass of the proton is made up overwhelmingly of gluons, not of quarks. I didn’t read the whole thing yet, and of course in D. it may be dumbed down enough to be unsatisfactory to those who really gots da whole nukula thang down, but you may want to get it.

12

side note:

The nucleus of an atom is small. Suppose an atom is the size of the Colissium in Rome. If you stood in the middle the nucleus would be about the size of a drop of water.