Question

What is the chemical and electrical stability in an atom?

Answer 1

An atom is electrically neutral. It contains an equal number of positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons. The nucleus contains only positively charged protons which are closely packed together in a very small volume. From the laws of physics (Coulomb’s Law) one would expect that the protons being of the same charge and so close together would exert strong repulsive forces on each other. The combined gravitational force from the protons and neutrons in a nucleus is insignificant as an attractive force because their masses are so less. This implies that there must be an additional attractive force similar in size to the electrostatic repulsion which holds the nucleus together.