A new study has confirmed that increasing the number of neutrons as compared to protons in the atom’s nucleus also increases the average momentum of its protons.
The determination of the pressure distribution inside the proton is the first measurement of a mechanical property of a subatomic particle. The measurement found that the proton’s building blocks, quarks, are subjected to a pressure of 100 decillion Pascal (1035) near the center of a proton, which is about 10 times greater than the pressure in the heart of a neutron star.
The weak force is one of the four fundamental forces in our universe, along with gravity, electromagnetism and the strong force. Researchers have made the first experimental determination of the weak charge of the proton, a measure of the precise strength of the weak force’s influence on the proton.
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory. Jefferson Lab's unique and exciting mission is to expand our knowledge of the universe by studying the basic building blocks of matter within the nucleus: subatomic particles known as quarks and gluons.