The Proton

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2018

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery and growing understanding of the Proton, formed from three quarks close to the Big Bang and found in the nuclei of all elements. The positive charges they emit means they attract the fundamental particles of negatively charged electrons, an attraction that leads to the creation of atoms which in turn leads to chemistry, biology and life itself. The Sun (in common with other stars) is a fusion engine that turn protons by a series of processes into helium, emitting energy in the process, with about half of the Sun's protons captured so far. Hydrogen atoms, stripped of electrons, are single protons which can be accelerated to smash other nuclei and have applications in proton therapy. Many questions remain, such as why are electrical charges for protons and electrons so perfectly balanced? With Frank Close Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford Helen Heath Reader in Physics at the University of Bristol And Simon Jolly Lecturer in High Energy Physics at University College London Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:02.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:05.0	There's a reading list to go with it on our website and you can get news about our programs
0:09.0	if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:12.0	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:14.0	Hello, there are enough protons in the sun for it to last a thousand billion years
0:18.0	and it's only about halfway through them, so that's a relief.
0:22.0	The properties of protons there, as on Earth and throughout the Universe,
0:26.0	are those that make chemistry biology and life itself possible.
0:29.0	They've existed since the split second after the Big Bang
0:32.0	and are found in a nuclei of all elements.
0:35.0	Hydrogen, by far the most abundant element in the Universe,
0:38.0	is a single proton with one electron.
0:41.0	Stripped electrons, those protons can be accelerated to smash other nuclei
0:46.0	to reveal more of the secrets of particle physics
0:48.0	and they can be used in the treatment of some cancers.
0:51.0	And while much is known about protons, much remains to be discovered.
0:55.0	We'd be to discuss the proton, Frank Close, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford,
1:01.0	Simon Jolli, lecturer in high energy physics at the University of Scotland,
1:05.0	and Helen Heath, reader in physics at the University of Bristol.
1:09.0	Frank Close, what's the proton?
1:12.0	Well, proton is one of the seeds of atoms.
	...

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