Nuclear glue

Before 1 show you how radioactive isotopes decay, I want to briefly explain why a pcirticular isotope decays. The nucleus has all those positively charged protons shoved together in an extremely small volume of space. All those protons are repelling each other. The forces that normally hold the nucleus together, the nuclear glue, sometimes can t do the job, and so the nucleus breaks apeirt, undergoing nuclear decay. 

There are only a few commercial uses for europium. Europium oxide, (Eu O ), a compound of europium, is added to infra-sensitive phosphors to enhance the red colors on TV and computer-monitor picture tubes. It is also added to fluorescent light tubes to increase their efflciency, as well as to some materials to make lasers. Since it is a good neutron absorber, it is part of nuclear reactor control rods. Europium is an additive to the glue used on postage stamps, thus making it possible for the electronic sorting machines in U.S. postal offices to read the stamps. 

Use Neutron absorber in nuclear control, color-TV phosphors to activate yttrium, phosphors in postage-stamp glues to permit electronic recognition of first-class mail. 

Any nuclear fluctuation away the stationary value will set up electronic restitution forces if there are bound electro-nuclear states. The electronic stationary state acts as a glue for the nuclei. Any picture of electrons following the nuclear motion is totally foreign to the present approach. 

The Born-Oppenheimer approximation (Chapter 6) that separates the motion of the nuclei from the motion of the electrons. This approximation allows us to introduce the concept of a 3-D structure of the molecule the heavy nuclear framework of the molecule kept together by "electronic glue moves (translation), and at the same time rotates in space. 

Adhesion may not be regarded just as a phenomenon related to the contact of two solid bodies. Recently, physicists have applied the concept of adhesion to understand the structure of basic particles at the subatomic level (21). New terms, such as "glue balls" or "gluons," have appeared in particle and nuclear physics literature. The phenomena of adherence have been studied by Maugis and Barquin (22) and Maugis (23). 

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