How Does The Nucleus Hold Together?

Two protons next to each other in an atomic nucleus are repelling each other electromagnetically with enough force to lift a medium-sized labradoodle off the ground. Release this energy and you have, well, you have a nuclear explosion. Just as well there's an even stronger force than the electromagnetism holding our nuclei together. But it's not the strong force, as you might have imagined. At least not directly. Nuclei are held together by a quirk of nature, without which we would have no complex atoms, no chemistry, and certainly no labradoodles. Episode Companion Playlist Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Fernando Franco Félix & Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, Pedro Osinski, Caique Oliveira, Adriano Leal & Stephanie Faria Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell Spacetime is produced by Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2023 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By: Ian Jones Bryce Fort Peter Barrett David Neumann Leo Koguan Sean Maddox Alexander Tamas Morgan Hough Juan Benet Vinnie Falco Fabrice Eap Mark Rosenthal Glenn Sugden Alex Kern Ethan Cohen Stephen Wilcox Christina Oegren Mark Heising Silvia Gionta Ivari Tölp Vyce Ailour Kenneth See Gregory Forfa Kirk Honour Joe Moreira Bradley Voorhees Marc Armstrong Scott Gorlick Paul Stehr-Green Ben Delo Scott Gray Антон Кочков John R. Slavik David S. Cerutti Donal Botkin John Pollock Edmund Fokschaner Chuck Zegar Jordan Young Daniel Muzquiz Thomas Nielson Joe Pavlovic Ryan McGaughy Mark West Justin Lloyd Chuck Lukaszewski Edward Hodapp Kevin Tillery Cole Combs Marc Forand Andrea Galvagni Jerry Thomas Nikhil Sharma Ryan Moser Jonathan Cordovano John Anderson David Giltinan Scott Hannum Paul Widden Bradley Ulis Craig Falls Kane Holbrook Ross Story teng guo Mason Dillon Matt Langford Harsh Khandhadia Thomas Tarler Susan Albee Frank Walker Matt Quinn Michael Lev Terje Vold James Trimmier Anatoliy Nagornyy Andre Stechert Paul Wood Kent Durham Jim Bartosh Ramon Nogueira Ellis Hall John H. Austin, Jr. Diana S Poljar Faraz Khan Almog Cohen Alex Edwards Ádám Kettinger Endre Pech Daniel Jennings Cameron Sampson Geoffrey Clarion Russ Creech Jeremy Reed David Johnston Michael Barton Andrew Mann Isaac Suttell Oliver Flanagan Bleys Goodson Robert Walter Mirik Gogri Mark Delagasse Mark Daniel Cohen Nickolas Andrew Freeman Shane Calimlim Tybie Fitzhugh Robert Ilardi Eric Kiebler Craig Stonaha Graydon Goss Frederic Simon Dimitri McGuiness John Robinson Jim Hudson Alex Gan David Barnholdt David Neal John Funai Bradley Jenkins Daniel Stříbrný Cody Brumfield Thomas Dougherty King Zeckendorff Dan Warren Patrick Sutton John Griffith Dean Faulk Sam Long