What kind of forces hold the protons and neutrons together in the nucleus?

Asked by: Madhur

Answer

It seems that since all protons are positive, they would repel each other, and the nucleus would fly apart. Fortunately, there is a force that holds it together.

Any force that you can think of goes into four different categories. They are, gravity, electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force.

Gravity holds galaxies together, electromagnetism is the force that would theoretically rip a nucleus apart, the weak nuclear force governs radioactivity, and the strong nuclear force (130 times stronger than electromagnetism) is the force that holds a nucleus together.
Answered by: Mitchell Wang, 8th Grade Student, West Chester, OH