Nuclear Physics

Nuclear physics is the study of atomic nuclei and their components and interactions, as well as the study of other types of atomic materials. Nuclear physics should not confuse with atomic physics, which studies the atom as a whole and including electrons.

The discoveries in nuclear physics have led to applications in many fields. These include nuclear energy, nuclear weapons, nuclear medicine, and magnetic resonance imaging, ion implantation in industrial and agricultural isotopes, and radiocarbon dating in geology and archeology. This branch of physics deals with the structure of the atomic nucleus and the radiation of unstable nuclei. Approximately 10,000 times smaller than an atom, the nucleus, the particles of protons and neutrons, are strongly attracted to each other by molecular forces, and the atomic forces are about 1,000,000 times greater than those of ordinary atomic particles. Quantum theory is needed to understand atomic structure.