Good afternoon, I was interested in the question of how gravity affects the nuclear decay of atoms of elements. Will radioactive elements be stable in other galaxies and systems
I think it's quite hard to correlate this to forces if to consider radioactive decay as a random process. You can correlate something random with literally anything and find some kind of pattern. Is there any information on any forces that truly influence the decay?
@amalgama the stability of nuclei or their tendency to decay correlates with the binding energy of nucleons (protons and neutrons). The connection of nucleons in the nucleus is provided by strong interaction or nuclear forces (these are synonyms). However, the nature of nuclear forces has not yet been sufficiently studied; there are only approximate models and theories
@marie-curie In theory, external influences should also influence these forces.
@argentum Why is it so? As far as I understand these forces are huge, gravity effects objects with great mass (which atom doesn't have). I don't think that this influence will be sufficient
@amalgama You can't know for sure, or have studies been done on this?
@argentum @damiryagudin nuclear forces are considered the most powerful forces in nature. Moreover, if we imagine two protons and assume that there are only gravitational and electromagnetic interactions between them, using simple calculations from a school physics course, we can show that the forces of electrical repulsion are about 35 times greater than the forces of gravitational attraction. From here it's easy to understand that the gravitational interaction is negligibly small compared to the nuclear forces
@_brauer_ I agree, but keep in mind that in the galaxy, in addition to intergalactic space, there are black holes, a gravitational field that is a source of energy for the rotation of all nuclei. Here I would not say that the gravitational forces are weak.
Under the influence of the gravitational field of a black hole, the nucleus of an atom rotates rapidly. As a result, the centrifugal force of the electron increases, which overcomes the force of electromagnetic attraction between an electron and a proton in the nucleus of an atom. Thus, not only nuclear decay occurs, but the nucleus itself decays into individual electrons, protons and neutrons. By the way, this is called cold fusion.
@damiryagudin hmm, it's very interesting, I haven't thought about this aspect of the question
but can we assume exactly what elements can be detected in the gravitational field of black holes and galaxies?
Btw I've made such a stupid mistake in my previous message.. I meant "greater by 35 orders of magnitude", not "about 35 times greater"