Physics, asked by tuhinchandra2004, 10 months ago

why in heavy nuclei the number of neutrons is always greater than the number of protons​

Answers

Answered by techayush
16

Answer:

The reason is that protons, being charged particles, repel each other. As you get to heavier elements, with each new proton you add, there is a larger repulsive force. The nuclear force is attractive and stronger than the electrostatic force, but it has a finite range. So you need to add extra neutrons, which do not repel each other, to add extra attractive force. You eventually reach a point where the nucleus is just too big, and tends to decay via alpha decay or spontaneous fission.

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To view this in quantum mechanical terms, the proton potential well is not as deep as the neutron well due to the electrostatic repulsion. [Due to the Pauli exclusion principle, you only get two particles per level (spin up and spin down)]. If one well is filled higher than the other, you tend to get a beta decay to even them out. As the nuclei get larger, the neutron well gets deeper as compared to the proton well and you get more neutrons than protons.

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