Nuclear density
McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Dictionary:
Top
nuclear density
(′nü·klē·ər ′den·səd·ē)
(nuclear physics) The mass per unit volume of a nucleus as a function of distance from the center of the nucleus, as determined by a number of different types of experiments which are in reasonably good agreement.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Nuclear density
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) |
 |
This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (December 2009) |
Nuclear density is the density of the nucleus of an atom, averaging about 4×1017 kg/m3. The descriptive term nuclear density is also applied to situations where similarly high densities occur, such as within neutron stars.
The nuclear density in a typical nucleus can be approximately calculated from the size of the nucleus. The radius of a typical nucleus is 
where 
is the mass number and 
is 1.25 fm, with deviations of 0.2 fm from this value. The nucleon's density n satisfies
Therefore 
.
Experimentally determined value is 
. The mass density given above is the product of this by the nucleon mass 1.67×10−27 kg.
The components of an atom and of an atomic nucleus have varying densities. The proton is not a fundamental particle, being composed of quark-gluon matter. Its size is approximately 10−15 meters and its density 1018 kg/m3. The descriptive term nuclear density is also applied to situations where similarly high densities occur, such as within neutron stars.
The nuclear dens. Using deep inelastic scattering, it has been estimated that the "size" of an electron, if it is not a point particle, must be less than 10−17 meters. This would correspond to a density of roughly 1021 kg/m3. The descriptive term nuclear density is also applied to situations where similarly high densities occur, such as within neutron stars.
The nuclear dens.
Probing deeper within particles, one finds quarks which appear to be very dense and very hard. There are possibilities for still higher densities when it comes to quark matter, gluon matter, or neutrino matter. In the immediate future, the highest experimentally measurable densities will likely be limited to leptons and quarks.
See also
- Nuclear equation of state
- Nuclear matter
- Quark-gluon plasma
- Nuclear compressibility
 |
This nuclear physics or atomic physics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
McGraw-Hill Science & Technology Dictionary
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more
Mentioned in
nuclear radius
(nuclear physics)
low-population zone
(engineering)
Quark-gluon plasma
(nuclear physics)
Exotic nuclei
(nuclear physics)
» More