Why Don't Protons In The Nucleus Of An Atom Repel??
The Nucleus is much smaller in size as compared to the size of an atom & the protons are much bigger in size as compared to electrons. Then why don't the protons repel when put inside a small place i.e. nucleus.
Ever ruminated over this??
We have been studying science throughout our lives. Major part contains the study of atoms. We are told what an atom is, what electrons and protons are, how electrons move in an atom, how movement of an electron is different in an ionic bond from that of a covalent bond. But they never told us what happens with protons inside the nucleus i.e. why don't they repel?
Do protons repel in an atom?
Yes, they definitely repel. Like charges will always repel and thats what happens inside an the nucleus of any atom. Then,
How are they fitted in the small nucleus of any atom?
Look at the picture (above) and observe the atom. Nucleus has both protons which are positively charged and neutral neutrons. Now neutrons have a role in the explanation for to this question.
Do you remember gravitational force between any two objects? Its the force exerted by any two body on each other which depends upon the size of the two bodies and the distance between them. All objects posses this force and even protons and neutrons.
When protons repel each other, at the same time they attract each other due the gravitational force acting on both of them. This force is becomes greater when the distance between the objects is smaller. In this case though the sizes are quite small but the distance is much much small which leads to strong gravitational forces.
G = (g x m)/r^2
Where r is the distance between the two bodies. Now even neutrons apply this force on each other as well as protons.
Because of the forced applied by even neutrons, the forces of attraction completely overcomes the forced of repulsion cause by charges of protons And hence the protons in the nucleus of any atom do not show an effect of repulsion even though they repel.
You must be knowing that the atomic radius decreases as we move from left t right along a period. This is due to an increase in nuclear charge which tends to pull the electrons closer to the nucleus and reduces the size of the atom.
Lets take any period, say 2nd period. Here Neon (Ne) isn't the smallest but Florine (F) is the smallest. This is same for every period. Group 18 elements are larger than the group 17 elements. Why does this happen is pretty much similar to what we learnt above. Can you guess??
Your guess is very much right. Negative charges of repulsion caused by electrons come into play.
Nuclear charge increase on going from left to right in a particular Period.
But in Group 18, the shells come so close to each other that they experience a force of repulsion (cause by electrons on each other) which increases the distance between the two intermediate shells which results in an increase of atomic radius which leads to increase in the size of atom.
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