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The neutron–proton ratio (N/Z ratio or nuclear ratio) of an atomic nucleus is the ratio of its number of neutrons to its number of protons. Among stable nuclei and naturally occurring nuclei, this ratio generally increases with increasing atomic number. [ 1 ]
An animation of the strong interaction between a proton and a neutron, mediated by pions. The colored small double circles inside are gluons . In nuclear physics and particle physics , the strong interaction , also called the strong force or strong nuclear force , is a fundamental interaction that confines quarks into protons , neutrons , and ...
While the neutron was determined to have a magnetic moment by indirect methods in the mid-1930s, Luis Alvarez and Felix Bloch made the first accurate, direct measurement of the neutron's magnetic moment in 1940. The proton's magnetic moment is exploited to make measurements of molecules by proton nuclear magnetic resonance. The neutron's ...
Other gluons, which bind together the proton, neutron, and pion "in flight", are not shown. The nuclear force is a residual effect of the more fundamental strong force, or strong interaction. The strong interaction is the attractive force that binds the elementary particles called quarks together to form the nucleons (protons and neutrons ...
The conversion of protons to neutrons is the result of another nuclear force, known as the weak (nuclear) force. The weak force, like the strong force, has a short range, but is much weaker than the strong force. The weak force tries to make the number of neutrons and protons into the most energetically stable configuration.
The neutrons and protons in a nucleus form a quantum mechanical system according to the nuclear shell model. Protons and neutrons of a nuclide are organized into discrete hierarchical energy levels with unique quantum numbers. Nucleon decay within a nucleus can occur if allowed by basic energy conservation and quantum mechanical constraints.
The proton-neutron (p-n) bound state, or p-n pair, is stable and ubiquitous in baryonic matter. [24] The p-n pair contributes implicitly to the top ten most abundant isotopes in the universe, eight of which contain equal numbers of protons and neutrons (see Oddo-Harkins rule and abundance of the elements).
[a] Thus, the neutron has a charge of 0 (zero), and therefore is electrically neutral; indeed, the term "neutron" comes from the fact that a neutron is electrically neutral. The masses of the proton and neutron are similar: for the proton it is 1.6726 × 10 −27 kg ( 938.27 MeV/ c 2 ), while for the neutron it is 1.6749 × 10 −27 kg ( 939.57 ...