Revision 263532 of "Nuclear model" on siwiki

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The structure of atoms is now well understood: quantum physics governs all; the electromagnetic force is the main force; each atom contains a massive force center (the nucleus) that tends to dominate the physics. However, things are not in such a happy state for the nucleus. Quantum mechanics still governs its behavior, but the forces are complicated and cannot, in fact, be written down explicitly in full detail. We are dealing with a many-body problem of great complexity.

So, in the absence of a comprehensive nuclear theory, we turn to the construction of nuclear models. A nuclear model is simply a way of looking at the nucleus that gives a physical insight into as wide a range of its properties as possible. The usefulness of a model is tested by its ability to provide predictions that can be verified experimentally in the laboratory.

Two models of the nucleus have proved useful: the liquid drop model and the independent particle model. Although based on assumptions that seem flatly to exclude each other, each accounts very well for a selected group of nuclear properties. After describing them separately, we shall see how these two models may be combined to form a single coherent picture of the atomic nucleus known as the collective model.