What is nuclear physics?
Nuclear physics is a branch of the physics field which is concerned with the structure of atomic nuclei, and the understanding of potential ways in which to manipulate atomic nuclei. This branch of physics dates to the early 20th century, when scientists began to realize that the atom had a structure, and that understanding this structure could be important. The most infamous application of nuclear physics was probably the development of the atom bomb in the 1940s, but nuclear physics has many more applications, including highly beneficial ones. Some people group particle physics in with nuclear physics, although technically particle physics should be viewed as its own field. Particle physics is related to nuclear physics, in that it is an offshoot of this field, but particle physicists take their research in very different directions, and work with different kinds of natural phenomena. One of the most diverse applications of nuclear physics is in medicine. The work of nuclear physicis
In a sentence, nuclear physics is the physics of the nucleus. Lots of applications, science, controversy, and way of life revolves around nuclear physics. But all the different phenomena and applications can be explained through the physical principles. This site attempts to build a bridge between the practical issues and the technical issues of nuclear physics in order to create a comprehensive education experience of nuclear physics. Enjoy. tq-nuke@tjhsst.
In a nutshell: Nuclear physics is the physics relating to the nucleus of an atom. (E.g., nucleosynthesis, beta and alpha decay, QCD, etc) Just like chemistry is the physics regarding how electrons of atoms interact with electrons of other atoms to make molecules and compounds. Or, how QED (Quantum electrodynamics) is the physics relating to the interactions of electrons and light and/or other electrons.
