What is an atoms nucleous made of ?

[36grit]

What is an atoms nucleous made of ?

What makes it different than the space around it?

Does it have a definate shape and size ?

How is it's huge nuclear force contained and what keeps the protons and neutrons from wandering off outside of it ?

Is there a larger concentration of "vacuum" energy inside the nucleous than there is outside of the nucleous?

[IM Egdall]

Let me try to answer some of this. An atomic nucleus is made up of protons and neutrons. (Except hydrogen which has only a single proton.)

Let's take a helium atom for example. It has two protons and two neutrons in its nucleus.

Now each proton has positive electrical charge and is in turn made up of three quarks: up, up, down. Their electrical charge is +2/3, +2/3, and -1/3 respectively. So they add up to +1.

Each neutron has zero electrical charge and is made up of three quarks: up, down, down. Their electrical charge is +2/3, -1/3, and -1/3. So they add up to 0.

Negatively charged electrons are held inside atoms by the net electrical charge of the nucleus. No one know why quarks have electrical charges which come exactly in thirds of the electron charge.

The quarks which are inside the nucleus make it different from space around it; which has no real quarks. However virtual quark pairs (and other particle pairs) do pop up out of the vacuum, but they exist for only a very very brief time before they annihilate each other.

Yes a nucleus has a definite size and shape. This is really due to their fields.

The quarks inside a proton are held together by what is called the strong nuclear force. The same is true for the quarks inside the neutron. And there is some residual of this force which is what holds protons and neutrons together inside the nucleus.

I do not think there is a larger concentration of virtual particles (vacuum energy) inside a nucleus than outside. But I am not sure on this.

 

A terrific site to learn all about the basics of atoms, nucleii, protons, neutrons, quarks and a lot more is The Particle Adventure. See link:

 

http://www.particleadventure.org/

Edited March 7, 2011 by I ME

[36grit]

thanks for the link. It is very interesting but stated that: "Protons and neutrons jiggle inside of the nucleous". I was specifically asking about the the nuclious and what is it.

I see that there is a lot of "empty space" between the nucleoos and the electron but it seems the space that the protons "jiggle" in is different from this space.

Vacuum energy refers to the positive and negative energies that "wiggle" the proton/s.