Seeker's Questions: How does an atom remain an atom?

[saidevo]

The chemical atom has a nucleus that has protons and neutrons (with
quarks inside them), and electrons in orbit around the nucleus. Some
other sub-atomic particles might be generated from time to time,
but these are not stable. An atom has a diameter of 10^-10 meters.

Two atoms never touch each other, even in the densest solid.
The space between two atoms is far larger than the size of the atom.
Similarly, the space between the particles inside the atom is also
large, compared to their sizes. And all the particles are vibrating,
the electrons going around, and the quarks vibrating on their axes.

Given this situation, how does an atom remain an atom always?
Why don't the particles just dissipate into the surrounding space?
What keeps the particles together, bound as a common unit, the atom?
What is the force that binds the particles to the atomic structure?

Since the electrons go round the nucleus, the force that binds them
may be the gravitational force, with centripetal forces counteracting
the force of gravity. What about the quarks? What force binds them
into units of protons and neutrons? If it is a nuclear force, or a
cohesive force, or any other force, what is the nature of such
forces? Do they have a role even outside the atom? In what way are
these sub-atomic forces different from the normal forces or energy
fields such as gravity, electricity, magnetism and electromagnetism?

An image on a computer monitor persists because it is constantly
refreshed by electron beams acting as an external force, welling up
from inside the picture tube. An image on a cinema screen persists
because it is refreshed by the beam of light from the projector.
Should this not be the case with atoms too? If so, has Science
postulated any external force that either acts on the atom or
wells up from within the atom (from a fourth dimension) and keeps
the atom intact? If there is such a force, what is the nature
of this force?

An explanation with less technical jargon would be helptul.

Regards,
saidevo

[Erasmus00]

Originally Posted by saidevo

Since the electrons go round the nucleus, the force that binds them
may be the gravitational force, with centripetal forces counteracting
the force of gravity.

Electrons really "orbit" the protons. Thats why a neutral atom has one electron per one proton. The force that holds them in is electromagnetic.

What about the quarks? What force binds them
into units of protons and neutrons? If it is a nuclear force, or a
cohesive force, or any other force, what is the nature of such
forces? Do they have a role even outside the atom? In what way are
these sub-atomic forces different from the normal forces or energy
fields such as gravity, electricity, magnetism and electromagnetism?

The strong nuclear force binds quarks together (so it also holds together the nucleus). It drops off very quickly with distance, so outside the nucleus of the atom it plays little role. For a description of the theory of quarks/strong force google Quantum Chromodynamics.
-Will

[UncleAl]

An isolated atom sits at the bottom of a deep potential well of binding energy. That is the way this universe is constructed. If you want it to do chemistry you are talking eV of energy. If you want it to do physics you are talking MeV of energy.

http://t2.lanl.gov/data/astro/molnix96/massd.html

An s-orbital has an antinode at the nucleus. A heavy element muonic atom has its muon orbiting wholly inside its nucleus - passing through a density of 2x10^14 g/cm^3 as though it were vacuum. Neither electrons nor muons contain quarks. They are not subject to the strong nuclear force.

There are four fundamental forces: Strong, Weak, electromagnetic, and gravitation. Maxwell united electricity and magnetism into electromagnetism at ambient energies. At high energies (particle accelerator) electromagnetism and the Weak force unite into the electroweak force. Conceivably at sufficiently high energies the Strong force would unite, then finally gravitation.

All forces except gravitation quantize into propagation by virtual spin-1 vector bosons (photons, W and Z bosons, gluons). Quantized gravitation would propagate via virtual spin-2 tensor bosons for which there is no evidence whatsover. Thermodynamics plus the Bekenstein bound gets you General Relativiy. Gravitation may be a very different beast than the other three forces from the get go. A black hole externally gravitates because it deforms the geometry of spacetime. How does one quantize a continuous deformation and recover physics?

[saidevo]

I have temporarily deleted the contents of this post, as they were posted verbatim from other forums, and I understand this might be objectionable. I shall write up the contents in my own words and repost shortly.

Regards,
saidevo

[Tormod]

Please be careful when you post content from other forums - it is generally not a good practice. Are the posters aware that you are using their posts here?

[saidevo]

Originally Posted by Tormod

Please be careful when you post content from other forums - it is generally not a good practice. Are the posters aware that you are using their posts here?

I generally find cross-postings in forums, so took the liberty of posting the contents here, as they were interesting. I haven't checked with the posters because, you know, it is tedious, and further I haven't used any names here.

If contents from other forums might violate any rules of copyright or intellectual property, I request the moderator to kindly delete my post.

Regards,
saidevo

[Qfwfq]

Originally Posted by saidevo

I generally find cross-postings in forums, so took the liberty of posting the contents here, as they were interesting.

It's enough to give a link. Links were the main idea of hypertext, i. e. HTML, originally.

[brianthepoet]

I had the thought that perhaps the first time some energy reaches the speed of light,
as in the big bang, it creates a little bit of space by dissipating the energy that is travelling
with it, changing at the same (time?) all the energy of going "straight" into orbital
energy. Nothing is lost, just transformed.

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by saidevo

I have temporarily deleted the contents of this post, as they were posted verbatim from other forums, and I understand this might be objectionable. I shall write up the contents in my own words and repost shortly.

Regards,
saidevo

Saidevo, I did not mean to be condescending - feel free to link to posts elsewhere and write a brief summary of the points they make.

But I thank you for abiding by our rules.

[rockytriton]

I thought that medichlorians held atoms together