I can understand why 2 protons will repel each other, because they're both positive. But there isn't a neutral charge is there? So why do neutrons repel? (Do they, or have I been misinformed?)
The reason why I'm asking this is because, I've just been learning about neutron stars and how the neutrons are forced (as in, they repel) together according to my teacher (he's a great teacher btw, though what I just said doesn't make it seem so).
So I wondered, why they have to be forced by gravity and not just pushed?
Answer
Neutrons have spin 1/2 and therefore obey the pauli exclusion principle, meaning two neutrons cannot occupy the same space at the same time. When two neutrons' wavefunctions overlap, they feel a strong repulsive force. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_interaction .
No comments:
Post a Comment