Question

Describe the balance of forces that hold together the nuclei of atoms. What happens when these forces get out of balance?

**Not sure how to explain this! Thank you:)

Answer 1

the force which is acting among protons and neutrons, is the so called strong nuclear force. Such force can be explained, introducing a particle mediator of that nuclear force. Such mediator particle, is the pi meson (pion) , whose mass is about 140 MeV.
In other words, as electromagnetic force is due to the mediator which is the photon, in the same way the nuclear force is due to an exchange, among the nucleons, of a pion, or meson pi, in fact the nuclear force is described inside a theory which is calle OPEP
namely
One Pion Exchange Potential

Answer 2

ohhh okay! and so when they get out of balance, what happens? :/

Answer 3

when a nucleon, for example a proton, is out of the range of the nuclear force, then on it will act the electrostatic force, so it will repelled by other protons.
When a neutron is out of the range of a nuclear force, then that nucleus will become instable

Answer 4

the nuclear force, acting among nucleons, is very attractive, nevertheless its range it is very short, that range is about 10^-14 cm

Answer 5

ohhh okay! thank you!! :D

Answer 6

and so this problem is complete? :O

Answer 7

yes! I think so! If you want I can give you a simple computation, of the range of the strong nuclear force

Answer 8

ok!

Answer 9

keep in mind that the mediator particle, namely the pion or pi meson , was introduced by the famous physicist Hideki Yukawa (Japan) in the past 1934

Answer 10

Now, we can consider the pion a so called "virtual particle". It is virtual not, because it doesn't exist, it is called virtual because its existence violates the Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

Answer 11

Oh! Okay:)

Answer 12

so, we can write this equation:
\[\Large \Delta E\Delta t \leqslant \hbar \]
it is the violation of the Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, as you can see

Answer 13

Now, we can replace \Delat E, with the mass of the pion, namely:
\[\Large \Delta E = {M_\pi }{c^2} = 140MeV\]

Answer 14

oohhh okay!

Answer 15

then we can solve that equation for \Delta t, being \Delta t the existence time of the pion, so we get:
\[\Large \Delta t \simeq \frac{\hbar }{{140}}\]

Answer 16

Now, since the velocity of the pion is close to the light speed, then we can find the spoace traveled by our pion, using this formula:
\[\Large d = c\Delta t = \frac{{\hbar c}}{{140}} = \frac{{197}}{{140}} = 1.4fm\]
being \[\Large \hbar c = 197MeV \cdot fm\]
and
\[\Large 1fm = {10^{ - 13}}cm\]
fm=fermi

Answer 17

ohh okay!! :O

Answer 18

thank you!!

Answer 19

thank you!!