Unstable atoms emit fast-moving particles that can damage cells in the human body. Some atoms are far more unstable than ...

"The magic numbers are 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82 and 126," said David Jenkins, a nuclear physicist at the University of York in the U.K. "If you take the lightest one — two protons and two neutrons — ...

A new measurement of the strong nuclear force, which binds protons and neutrons together, confirms previous hints of an uncomfortable truth: We still don’t have a solid theoretical grasp of even the ...

The weak nuclear force doesn't play by the normal rules — and, in fact, it breaks one of the biggest rules of all.

No one really knows what happens inside an atom. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. No one really knows what happens inside an atom.

For surfers, it's not enough just to wait for the right wave: they still have to know how to catch it. As it turns out, one challenge faced by surfers also applies to protons. An experiment recently ...

Nuclear physics is a forbidding subject, even for trained physicists. To understand current news and discussion about nuclear science and technology, some background knowledge is required. The high ...

Individual protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei turn out not to behave according to the predictions made by existing theoretical models. This surprising conclusion, reached by an international team ...

Part of Physics (Single Science) Unit 1: Atomic and nuclear physics Protons and neutrons are the heaviest particles in an atom and as a result they make up most of its mass. The mass of electrons is ...

If you hit an atom's nucleus hard enough, it will fall apart. But exactly how it falls apart tells us something about the internal structure of the nucleus and perhaps about the interior of neutron ...

HEISENBERG has discussed the hypothesis that the nucleus of an atom is composed of neutrons and protons only, the neutron being regarded as a fundamental entity and not as a combination of an electron ...