How does a heavy nucleus stabilize itself given the repulsive force of the proto

Question

How does a heavy nucleus stabilize itself given the repulsive force of the protons present? a. Neutrons are present (in excess) to provide additional sources of the attractive strong force. b. Electrons are absorbed into the nucleus to counteract the positive charge of the protons.
c. The strength of the positive electrical charge of the individual protons is scaled back through a feedback mechanism.
d. The protons all group into a single ball surrounded by a shell of neutrons.
How does a heavy nucleus stabilize itself given the repulsive force of the protons present? a. Neutrons are present (in excess) to provide additional sources of the attractive strong force. b. Electrons are absorbed into the nucleus to counteract the positive charge of the protons.
c. The strength of the positive electrical charge of the individual protons is scaled back through a feedback mechanism.
d. The protons all group into a single ball surrounded by a shell of neutrons.
How does a heavy nucleus stabilize itself given the repulsive force of the protons present? a. Neutrons are present (in excess) to provide additional sources of the attractive strong force. b. Electrons are absorbed into the nucleus to counteract the positive charge of the protons.
c. The strength of the positive electrical charge of the individual protons is scaled back through a feedback mechanism.
d. The protons all group into a single ball surrounded by a shell of neutrons.

Explanation / Answer

A strong force must exist between the protons and neutrons in a nucleus to overcome the electrostatic repulsion between the protons. This additional force is called the strong nuclear force. This force is attractive over short distances, but this is not all. If the force was only attractive then it would pull the protons and neutrons together to an ever decreasing small volume of space. We know this not to be the case as each nucleus contains a distinct number of protons and neutrons which retain their identity. The more protons and neutrons, the bigger the nucleus and thus the separation between the protons and neutrons in a nucleus must be a fixed distance. This means the strong nuclear force must be repulsive at a very small range as well as being attractive over a slightly larger distance. This is the force that holds the nucleus together and the energy associated with this force is called the binding energy. So option (d) holds good

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