answersLogoWhite

0

The nucleus is the very dense region consisting of nucleons (protons and neutrons) at the center of an atom. Almost all of the mass in an atom is made up from the protons and neutrons in the nucleus, with a very small contribution from the orbiting electrons. It was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's interpretation of the famous 1909 Rutherford experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Rutherford.

The diameter of the nucleus is in the range of 1.75 FM (1.75×10−15

m) for hydrogen (the diameter of a single proton)[1] to about 15 FM for the heaviest atoms, such as uranium. These dimensions are much smaller than the diameter of the atom itself (nucleus + electronic cloud), by a factor of about 23,000 (uranium) to about 145,000 (hydrogen).

The branch of physics concerned with studying and understanding the atomic nucleus, including its

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago

What else can I help you with?