Since the atomic nucleus was first proposed in 1911, physicists simply assumed it was round. But are the nuclei of atoms really round? Intuitively this shape makes sense and physicists believed it ...

CERN's ALICE collaboration reveals how fragile deuterons survive high-energy collisions, impacting models of cosmic rays and ...

Some atomic nuclei are thin-skinned — they’re surrounded by a slim shell of neutrons. Physicists now know how thick that neutron skin is for one particular type of nucleus. The skin of lead-208 — a ...

Scientists studying the tracks of particles streaming from six billion collisions of atomic nuclei at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) -- an 'atom smasher' that recreates the conditions of ...

Researchers have been able to initiate a controlled movement in the very heart of an atom. They caused the atomic nucleus to interact with one of the electrons in the outermost shells of the atom.

This image depicts the radium atom’s pear-shaped nucleus of protons and neutrons in the center, surrounded by a cloud of electrons (yellow), and an electron (yellow ball with arrow) that has a ...

An atom is so small that a single drop of water contains more than a billion atoms. Although tiny, atoms are mostly empty space. The simplified model of the atom is that of a cloud of negative ...

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No one really knows what happens inside an atom. But two competing groups of scientists think they've figured it out. And both are racing to prove that their own vision is correct. Still, no one knows ...

They say you can never trust an atom because they make up everything. This week, we’re shrinking down and getting literally into the heart of the matter. We’ve covered the periodic table and all its ...