Tag Archives: proton

Physics: A smaller proton, a big challenge

Impact: Nuclear Physics    July 11, 2010
The proton is one of the fundamental components of the atom. For a long time scientists have believed it to be 0.8768 femtometers in size (a femtometer is one quadrillionth of a meter). Now, it looks like they may have been wrong, the size is 0.84184 femtometers. In a way, the discrepancy is very small…as [...]
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Ununseptium 117: The beginning or the end

Impact: Nuclear Physics    April 8, 2010
Does the periodic table ever end? That becomes a real question after the discovery (manufacture, really) of a new element, temporarily called ununseptium (Latin for 117) with an atomic weight of 117. This element was especially difficult. Elements 116 and 118 were already produced. Physicists knew the gap element existed but to produce it required [...]
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Looking at the strange face of antimatter

News: Nuclear Physics    March 5, 2010
Scarcely three weeks ago, it was reported that the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory had achieved the all time (laboratory) high temperature record of 4 trillion degrees Centigrade. [SciTechStory: Taking the temperature of the Big Bang + milliseconds] The significance was that in colliding atoms of gold and producing such [...]
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