Scientists appear to have finally discovered the answer to the 35-year-old mystery of why quarks—the building blocks of protons and neutrons, collectively called nucleons—appear to slow down when they merge into an atomic nucleus, according to a report by LiveScience.
For 35 years, scientists have tried and failed to understand why quarks slow down to a drastic extent once they enter into an atomic nucleus. The reason why this is especially bothersome for scientists is that the quarks of the nucleon are bound together by gluons and are governed by what’s known as the strong force, which is about 100 times as powerful as the electromagnetic force that keeps electrons in orbit around the atomic nucleus and binds the atomic nucleus itself together.
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