Page 42 - The Miracle in the Atom

Protons and
electrons are
made up of
groups of
three quarks.
Atom

The Power Hidden in the Nucleus
The nucleus is located right at the centre of the atom and is made up of
a certain number of protons and neutrons depending on the properties of
that atom. The radius of the nucleus is about ten thousandth of the radius of
the atom. To express that in numbers, the radius of the atom is 10 -8
-12
(0.00000001) cm, the radius of the nucleus is 10 (0.000000000001) cm. There-
fore, the volume of the nucleus is equal to a ten billionth of the volume of the
atom.
Since we cannot visualize this vastness (better to say, minuteness), let us
take our example of the cherry. Let us look for the nucleus inside the atoms
that we had visualised as the size of cherries when the key in your hand was
magnified to be the size of the earth. But such a search would be inconclusi-
ve because even at that scale, it is absolutely impossible for us to view the
nucleus, which is still exceedingly small. If we really want to see it, then we
would have to change the scale again. The cherry representing our atom
must again expand and become a large ball two hundred metres in diameter.
Even at this unbelievable scale, the nucleus of our atom would not become
any bigger than a very tiny grain of dust. 15
So much so that when we compare the diameter of the nucleus that is
10 -13 cm and the diameter of the atom that is 10 cm, we come to the follo-
-8

40