Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: neilep on 29/01/2008 20:41:24
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Move over Gravity, the force is NOT with you.
What is the Strong Nuclear Force ?....if it was scaled up to ' regular gravity' levels then it would be trillions upon trillions more forceful ..it's a force of attraction yes ?...!!...so what's it all about ?...what does it do and why does it do it ?
Wifeys cooking contains the opposing force I might add.....it regularly repels me !! [;D]
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The strong nuclear force is one of the fundamental forces used in the modern quantum mechanical description of the universe. It explains how particles called hadrons are formed and interact, and hadrons make up much of the matter we see in the universe: examples are protons and neutrons, which form the nucleus of atoms.
Why do we need the strong nuclear force? Well, think about trying to form the nucleus of an atom. You have to jam a bunch of positively charged protons together. It's well-known that like charges repel each other, so the nucleus should just fly apart as soon as you stop squashing it. Enter the strong force which only acts at tiny distances and causes the protons and neutrons to stick together. At these distances, the strong force is attractive, acting to overcome the electrical force repelling the protons. However, if you squash things down really tightly, the strong force becomes repulsive, so that the protons don't all collapse down into a pinpoint. There's some ideal distance at which the protons like to sit, where the strong force balances out the electric force.
It does a lot of other things, too, but this is the most obvious place it's needed and the easiest way to understand it.
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This is what demonstrates the nature of this awesome forum so well.
THANK YOU so much jpetruccelli. This is a wonderful answer that even I understand. It of course leads on to a zillion other questions but for the time being I am just so grateful for this wonderful contribution. Your throwing in the change from attraction to a repulsion force when things become so very very tight is fascinating !
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This is what demonstrates the nature of this awesome forum so well.
THANK YOU so much jpetruccelli. This is a wonderful answer that even I understand. It of course leads on to a zillion other questions but for the time being I am just so grateful for this wonderful contribution. Your throwing in the change from attraction to a repulsion force when things become so very very tight is fascinating !
My attraction to my wife turned to repulsion when things became very very tight after she spent all my money on shoes [:(!]
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This is what demonstrates the nature of this awesome forum so well.
THANK YOU so much jpetruccelli. This is a wonderful answer that even I understand. It of course leads on to a zillion other questions but for the time being I am just so grateful for this wonderful contribution. Your throwing in the change from attraction to a repulsion force when things become so very very tight is fascinating !
My attraction to my wife turned to repulsion when things became very very tight after she spent all my money on shoes [:(!]
I need new shoes !! *looks upon the kindly Beav with sheepy eyes that dazzle and entrance*
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Never mind entrance... there's the exit --->
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Never mind entrance... there's the exit --->
I need trainers... [;)]
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*calls the zoo*