What is the advantage of having nuclear physics?

Answer 1

The "prongs" of nuclear physics are understanding the fundamentals of the structure of the atom and the behavior of the little "thingies" that make it up, and the application of that knowledge to make devices and equipment that can help us do stuff. Making things to do stuff is the advantage of pursuing our investigations in nuclear physics. We need to know how atomic nuclei do what they do, how the nucleons get along in there. We're curious that way. We simply want to know. A part of the desire to understand nuclear principles is just in the wish to know it. We study nuclear physics to understand radioactive decay and how the sun and other stars work. There are also a number of other astrophysical phenomenon that we investigate just to "know stuff" about our universe. How does it work? Where did it come from? What will happen to it in the future? Big questions! We also want to apply the knowledge, and the application of knowledge is, in general, a natural extension of having that knowledge. We have nuclear reactors to generate heat to create steam to drive turbines to generate electric power. The reactors are also used to make small radioactive sources which we apply to treat some forms of cancer. There are also a flock of other applications of nuclear physics in medicine, industry, food science, biological research and in the further investigation into the fundamental nature of matter.