Lifeboat Foundation

For many years, scientists believed that fundamental particles like protons and neutrons that form an atomic nucleus, can’t be divided further into smaller units. However, in the following years, physicists discovered quarks and gluons.

While quarks are particles that combine to form protons and neutrons, gluons act like glue, binding the quarks together.

So far, scientists have been studying the atomic nucleus using two models. In the first model, at low energies like in most typical nuclear experiments, they describe the atomic nucleus in terms of protons and neutrons. This is the classic way of understanding the nucleus.