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Article: Atomic Nucleus
- Article from:
- Chemistry: Foundations and Applications
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Atomic Nucleus
The atomic nucleus is a tiny massive entity at the center of an atom. Occupying a volume whose radius is 1/100,000 the size of the atom, the nucleus contains most (99.9%) of the mass of the atom. In describing the nucleus, we shall describe its composition, size, density, and the forces that hold it together. After describing the structure of the nucleus, we shall go on to describe some of the limits of
nuclear
stability.
The nucleus is composed of protons (charge = +1; mass = 1.007
atomic mass units
([
μ
]) and neutrons. The number of protons in the nucleus is called the
atomic number
Z and defines which chemical element the nucleus represents. The number of ...