Hi I'm new and this is my first post, so excuse me if this is a silly question. What holds neutrons and protons together?

Strong force.

Strong force.

 

what force?

what force?

 

No, that's the name of the force. The force is called 'the strong force'.

the strong nuclear force.

It is more of an equilibrium I believe than simple holding together with all sorts of quarks exchanging hands.

And the force carriers are called gluons.

 

edit : More

what force?

I think it's a wierd name for a force too. Does anybody know why it's called strong force?

it's stronger than the weak force? and A LOT stronger than the gravitational force

But isn't electromagnetism the strongest force on the mollecular/atomic/subatomic level?

it is the strong NUCLEAR force. not just the strong force.

there is also a weak NUCLEAR force.

Is that the only place this nuclear strong force occurs?

 

Thanks for the replies by the way.

But isn't electromagnetism the strongest force on the mollecular/atomic/subatomic level?

 

Here's a clue: Protons repel, and yet nuclei do not fly apart.

 

You can look at "mirror" nuclei, like H-3 vs He-3, to see the relative effect of the electrostatic force involved. The binding energy differs by only about 0.8 MeV from the proton vs. neutron, but the total nuclear-force binding energy is 8.5 MeV (for H-3), or more than 2.8 MeV per pairing.

no dont forget the the posstive particals atracts to the negative particals

and no posative particals atracts with possitive particals

and no negative partical atracts with negative particals

the strong force atracts the protons with another protons in the atomic nucles

no dont forget the the posstive particals atracts to the negative particals

and no posative particals atracts with possitive particals

and no negative partical atracts with negative particals

the strong force atracts the protons with another protons in the atomic nucles

 

That made absolutely no sense - especially since all protons have a positive charge. And yet' date=' you state both that no positive particles (well, you say "particals") attract to each other. You also state that [i']"the strong force atracts the protons with another protons in the atomic nucles"[/i] which I decipher as "the strong nuclear force causes the protons in the nucleus to attract to each other." That's a little self-contradictory, isn't it?

Basically, the strong force over-rules the electromagnetic force and holds the protons together.

 

Hence why it is called strong, as it is able to overcome the electromagnetic force.