Theory on Nuclear Forces

The force that keeps the particles together is known as gravitational force, and the force that is found in nuclear particles is known as nuclear forces. Nuclear forces are further divided into two categories: Strong and Weak Nuclear Forces.

Nuclear Forces – An overview

We all must have studied the nucleus and all the sub-particles that revolve around the nucleus. Since a nucleus contains charged particles, many types of charged particles are present, namely electrons, protons, and neutrons.

It is very important to understand the concept of nuclear forces by understanding the nucleons and what nucleons mean in physics while dealing with nuclear forces and their types.

Electrons are particles that have a negative charge. Protons and neutrons have a positive charge. Protons and neutrons are collectively known as Nucleons.

So, the nuclear force is a type of force that exists between the nucleons, or we can say that the nuclear force is a type of force that exists between a proton and a nucleon. Both protons and nucleons have the same magnitude of the effect of the nuclear force.

Since protons are positively charged particles, they possess an electric force too, but the nuclear force that is found between them is larger than the electromagnetic force between them. The nuclear force keeps the protons and the neutrons together in the nucleus.

Distance of Nuclear force

At 1 femtometer distance, the nuclear force is very powerful between the protons and the neutrons, collectively known as nucleons.

At a distance of 2.5fm, this nuclear force becomes weak between the protons and the neutrons.

At 1 femtometer, the nuclear force is attractive between the nucleons, but at a distance of less than 0.7m, these nuclear forces become repulsive.

So, the nature of nuclear forces matters because of the distance between the two particles; protons and neutrons.

The repulsion of the force is also dependent on the size of the nuclei and the spin of the nuclei.

Role of Nuclear Forces and its usage

In the nuclear plant, all the nuclear weapons that are kept for defense and military purposes have nuclear particles within them. The nuclear force finds its importance in the nuclear plants because it keeps the two nucleons together that are responsible for keeping the nuclear weapons in use.

As protons are charged particles and possess electric force, nuclear force is highly important to overcome the repulsive forces between them. 

The mass of the nucleus is calculated to be lesser than the individual masses of both protons and neutrons when taken together.

This difference in terms of physics is known as a mass defect. The nucleus breaks into small nuclei when the electromagnetic force between the nucleons becomes higher than the nuclear force present between the protons and the nucleons. As a result, the bombarding of the nuclear particles occurs. To avoid nuclear weapons from exploding, the magnitude of the nuclear force has to be higher than the magnitude of electromagnetic force. 

Types of Nuclear forces

Since we know that the nuclear forces depend on the size between the nucleons and the spin of the nuclear particles, they are classified into strong and weak nuclear forces.

Strong Nuclear forces

We all know that the nuclear forces are charge-dependent; that is, they can be repulsive and attractive depending on the distances; we can say that the strong nuclear force is a force that exists between the nucleons that are kept very close to each other.

The main job of the nuclear forces is to keep the nuclear particles together, so the strong nuclear forces are the forces that keep the nucleons closer when they are in very close proximity.

The distance between the two nucleons, i.e., the protons and the neutrons, should be less to experience a strong nuclear force. The required distance is about the size of the diameter of the nucleons.

Weak nuclear forces

As the name says, weak nuclear forces are the types of nuclear forces weaker than strong nuclear forces.

Since strong nuclear forces are distance-dependent, weak nuclear forces are also distance dependent. These types of forces exist inside the nucleons.

Weak nuclear forces are responsible for turning the protons to the neutrons and the neutrons to the protons that result in beta decay. Because of these weak nuclear forces, a balance between the number of neutrons and protons is kept within the nucleus.

Conclusion

Both strong and weak nuclear forces are highly useful in the research work as they help understand the various physical activities like radioactive decay, beta decay, and processes like nuclear weapon formation.

The strong nuclear forces find their high importance in the nuclear weapon industries because of these forces only, and scientists can design nuclear weapons of high efficiency for the safety of the country in times of world war.

The weak nuclear forces help to understand the phenomenon of beta decay and radioactive decay that occurs in nature.