Is there space between the protons and neutrons in the nucleolus?
> Is there space between the protons and neutrons in the nucleolus? First a definition: protons and neutrons are collectively called “nucleons.” The question you ask (basically) gets down to two questions: 1) what is the size of a nucleon? 2) what is the distance between nucleons within the nucleus? If the size of a nucleon is much smaller than the average distance between them, then we could say there is “space” between the nucleons. It would seem that it would be easy to measure both these quantities, and then we would know. The problem arises that, when we look at very small things (like nucleons), quantum mechanical effects take over, and concepts like “size” become meaningless. www.physlink.com/education/AskExperts/ae570.cfm At these small sizes, we don’t directly measure structure, we measure how much electrons are scattered in collisions with nucleons. http://www.desy.de/f/hera/engl/chap1.html
