Page 64 - The Creation Of The Universe

62 THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE

What, on the other hand, if the strong nuclear force were stronger? To
answer that, we first have to look at the process of converting two hydro-
gen atoms into a deuteron in a little more detail. First, one of the protons
is stripped of its electrical charge and becomes a neutron. This neutron
forms a deuteron by uniting with a proton. The force causing this unifica-
tion is the "strong nuclear force"; the force that converts a proton into a
neutron on the other hand is a different one and is called the "weak nu-
clear force". It is weak only by comparison however and it takes about ten
minutes to make the conversion. At the atomic level, this is an immensely
long time and it has the effect of slowing down the rate at which the reac-
tion in the Sun takes place.
Let us now return to our question: What would happen if the strong nu-
clear force were stronger? The answer is that the reaction in the Sun would
be changed dramatically because the weak nuclear force would be elimi-
nated from the reaction.
If the strong nuclear force were any stronger than it is, it would be able
to fuse two protons to one another immediately and without having to wait
ten minutes for a proton to be converted into a neutron. As a result of this
reaction, there would be one nucleus with two protons instead of a
deuteron. Scientists call such a nucleus a "di-proton". It is a theoretical par-
ticle however insofar as it has never been observed to occur naturally. But
if the strong nuclear force were much stronger than it is, then there would
be real di-protons in the Sun. So what? Well by getting rid of the proton-
to-neutron conversion, we would be eliminating the "throttle" that keeps
the Sun's "engine" running as slowly as it does. George Greenstein explains
what the result of that would be:
The Sun would change because the first stage in the formation of heli-
um would no longer be the formation of the deuteron. It would be the
formation of the di-proton. And this reaction would not involve the
transformation of a proton into a neutron at all. The role of the weak
force would be eliminated, and only the strong force would be in-
volved…and as a result the Sun's fuel would suddenly become very
good indeed. It would become so powerful, so ferociously reactive, that