Since the atomic nucleus was first proposed in 1911, physicists simply assumed it was round. But are the nuclei of atoms really round? Intuitively this shape makes sense and physicists believed it ...

Researchers at CERN have made a significant breakthrough in nuclear physics by uncovering strong evidence that Tin-100 (100 Sn) has a "doubly magic" nucleus, a property that confers exceptional ...

Physicists Maria Goeppert Mayer and J. Hans D. Jensen develop a theory of the nucleus as composed of shells of protons and neutrons. It explains why nuclei ...

Image of the emission of 4 neutrons (blue spheres) from the exotic nucleus oxygen-28, which consists of 8 protons (red spheres) and 20 neutrons. According to the traditional model, the nucleons inside ...

Some atoms are stable, while others seem to fall apart. Lead-208 will probably last forever, while the synthetic isotope technetium-99 exists for just hours. The difference lies in the structure of ...

Nuclear forces can be compared to a game of catch. With the two-nucleon force, two players, or nucleons, interact by throwing a ball to each other. The ball, a subatomic particle called a meson, can ...