Nucleonics, also known as nuclear physics, studies the nuclei of atoms and how they create energy. Ernest Rutherford discovered the nucleus, and scientists continue to study its composition and the particles within it. Nucleonics has led to the development of particle physics, which studies even smaller particles such as quarks, and requires tools like particle accelerators to observe them.
Nucleonics is a branch of physics that deals with the nuclei of atoms and with the construction of devices for experimenting on the nuclei of atoms. Physics deals with how matter interacts and produces energy forces, and nucleonics focuses specifically on how atoms can create energy. The study of nuclear energy and nuclear reactions falls into this category, thus also earning nucleonics the more commonly used name of nuclear physics. This area studies all the different reactions that a scientist can create by combining and splitting the very center of an atom. The best known discovery was the invention of the atomic bomb, which obtained its destructive force from splitting atoms.
Ernest Rutherford is credited with inventing the modern concept of the nucleus. His observations showed that alpha rays scatter when they hit an atom, and he concluded that a nucleus must exist to cause this scattering effect. His work, later combined with the help of Niels Bohr, led to a theory that detailed the structural composition of an atom. Although adjustments are still made to the theory as new discoveries emerge, the general structure is still considered to be sound and relied upon by researchers and scientists.
Today nucleonics studies the nucleons found in the nucleus at the center of an atom. More than one nucleon can exist in a single atom, and scientists are trying to classify these particles and understand how they work. Several theories aim to explain scientific mysteries that occur on the microscopic scale of an atom. Some scientists believe there are even smaller particles that they simply don’t have the technology to see yet. Further exploration slowly leads to the discovery of smaller and smaller microscopic building blocks that make up all the matter in the world in which people live.
These discoveries, coupled with the theory that even the smallest particles are still waiting to be discovered, led nucleonics to split into a separate area of study known as particle physics. This studies electrons, neutrons and protons, which most people have been told make up atoms. It also delves into lesser-known particles such as quarks. For these unimaginably tiny particles to show any sign of existence, they have to bounce into each other at high speeds. Nucleonics and particle physics work on developing tools, such as the particle accelerator, that make these conditions possible.
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