Question

In 7th grade response in 3 sentences Explore until you discover a good rule for making the center of the atom stable.
a. What seems to make the center of the atom unstable?

Answer 1

The center of the atom, called the nucleus, can be unstable when there are too many protons compared to neutrons, leading to imbalanced forces. This imbalance causes the strong nuclear force, which holds the protons and neutrons together, to weaken and can result in radioactive decay. A good rule for making the nucleus stable is to keep a 1:1 ratio of protons to neutrons, or to have more neutrons than protons if there are many protons.