Yes, this was a point of confusion for me. The point of confusion that followed very quickly afterward were why the strong nuclear force didn’t mean that everything piles up into one enormous nucleus, and from there to a lot of other points of confusion—some of which still haven’t been resolved because nobody really knows yet.
The most interesting thing to me is that the strong nuclear force is just strong enough without being too strong. If it was somewhat less strong then we’d have nothing but hydrogen, and somewhat more strong would make diprotons, neutronium, or various forms of strange matter more stable than atomic elements.
Yes, this was a point of confusion for me. The point of confusion that followed very quickly afterward were why the strong nuclear force didn’t mean that everything piles up into one enormous nucleus, and from there to a lot of other points of confusion—some of which still haven’t been resolved because nobody really knows yet.
The most interesting thing to me is that the strong nuclear force is just strong enough without being too strong. If it was somewhat less strong then we’d have nothing but hydrogen, and somewhat more strong would make diprotons, neutronium, or various forms of strange matter more stable than atomic elements.