An atom consists of a heavy center, called the nucleus, made of particles called protons and neutrons. An atom has lighter ...

Data from oceans, ice and the air all point to the same thing: rising invisible heat. What experiments are working, and what kinds of trials do we need to stop?

Richard Feynman, a famous theoretical physicist who won the Nobel Prize, said that if he could pass on only one piece of ...

Why did they form at that time? Astronomers know from observing distant exploding stars that the size of the universe has ...

The precursors of heavy elements might arise in the plasma underbellies of swollen stars or in smoldering stellar corpses.

Two protons and a neutron A discrepancy between two different measurements of the charge radius of the helium-3 nucleus may have been reconciled. (Courtesy: Shutterstock) Independent measurements of ...

The helium and deuterium − a heavier form of hydrogen − nuclei formed even earlier, just a few minutes after the Big Bang, when the temperature was above 1 billion F (556 million C).

Before this time, the electrons had too much energy to settle into orbits around the hydrogen and helium nuclei. So, the hydrogen and helium atoms could form only once the universe cooled down to ...