Ayiti Syantifik (Vol. 1 Article 2)
THE SECRET OF PROTONS
Imagine for a moment that you are a teacher in a classroom studying the atom with your students. Everything is going well; you draw your little circles with a + sign inside and call them protons. Everything goes well until Alfred, one of your students, raises his hand and asks, “Professor, how are protons, which are positive by nature, able to stay close to each other when the repulsive force between them should make their assembly impossible?” If it’s the first time you’ve faced such a question, your answer might be more of a grunt or a grimace than a rational response. Some bolder teachers might even say it’s just the way it is, nothing more to understand.
Hideki Yukawa, a young Japanese physicist, asked himself this question. He understood that specific forces (particles) inside the proton must be the basis of this anomaly. In 1935, he proposed that, contrary to general opinion, protons are not elementary particles and are made of even smaller particles.
A physicist quickly understands that if there is a force counteracting the repulsive force of protons, there must also be a particle (matter) at the base of this force since matter and energy go hand in hand (E=mc²). Today, we know from Quantum Physics that protons are made of smaller elements called quarks and that quarks are glued together by a force called the strong nuclear force. We can then understand that this force that attracts quarks can also influence (attract) nearby protons. This force, this excess force, explains why protons, although they repel each other, remain together in the nucleus of the atom. The strong nuclear force pulling the quarks inside them together exerts a force superior and opposite to that of the protons’ repulsive electromagnetic force, therefore keeping the protons from flying away from each other.
If you manage to understand what I have discussed in this article without any prior knowledge, I will be delighted, but that was not the aim of this article because I am also trying to understand these phenomena. The main aim of this article is instead to report the fact that Hideki Yukawa opened the door to a new branch of physics, Quantum Physics, simply by reflecting on a question that should have been asked by people like the student of my story (Alfred) who are far from being experts in the subject matter.
This contribution to science earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1949. So, I invite you not to hesitate to question what everyone thinks is true… especially what you think is true.
Waiting for your comments below or write to me at ayitisyantific@gmail.com
Jean Garry Cantave
(Author of Bertin’s River, a novel)
Ayiti Syantifik
7/17/2024