Word: nuclei
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...large part of physical research now centers on mesons. Physicists believe that they are the "glue" that holds atoms together. According to the best-established theory, the nucleons (protons and neutrons that form the nuclei of atoms) have some sort of core surrounded by a cloud of rapidly moving mesons. Each shares its meson cloud with neighboring nucleons. If it were not for this sharing of mesons, the physicists believe, most atoms would fly apart, their protons repelling one another with enormous force...
...through the thalamus, a Philadelphia team headed by Dr. Ernest A. Spiegel decided to operate on this central clearinghouse. They drilled a hole through the top of the skull, sank a hollow needle through the brain. When its electric tip touched the thalamus, it seared some of the nerve nuclei. Few other U.S. surgeons have taken up this difficult operation (thalamotomy). Dr. Spiegel reports on 43 patients, about half of whom were improved...
...made of protons, neutrons and smaller sub-atomic particles, its temperature was about i billion degrees, and through it shot violent gamma rays. At this point, the collisions among the particles and gamma rays were too powerful to allow any of the particles to join together into atomic nuclei...
Under the Alpher-Herman hypothesis, the gas, constantly expanding, soon cooled enough to allow an occasional proton to join with a neutron, forming the two-part nucleus of heavy hydrogen. Then, little by little, larger nuclei were formed, such as lithium, boron and carbon. Most of the nuclei grew by capturing more neutrons. When they captured too many, they became unstable. Then some of the neutrons inside them turned into protons and electrons. The electrons shot off as high-energy beta particles...
...More Neutrons. This process of "beta-decay" made the nuclei more stable -able to capture more neutrons. Bigger & bigger they grew, until all the elements in the universe had been formed. Then this growing process stopped; there were no more free neutrons, and the gas had become too cool to support nuclear reactions. Drs. Alpher & Herman believe that all the elements were formed in less than an hour after the great event...