Atomic Question

[trem]

Apologies all around if this is a stupid question...
I realize this is not guitar amp specific but.....
I have always read that:
"similar charges repel"
"dissimilar charges attract"

In an atom, of Copper for example, why/what keeps the protons all in a cluster. Why do they not "push" each other away.?
For that matter, what keeps the Electrons and Protons from "binding" to each other.?
I am happy to read a link, I just could not find a decent explanation.
Thank You

[R.G.]

Apologies all around if this is a stupid question...

It is not a stupid question. In fact, it baffled the best minds in the world until they started finding other subatomic particles in the 1900s.

In an atom, of Copper for example, why/what keeps the protons all in a cluster. Why do they not "push" each other away.?

There are forces other than the electrostatic force and magnetic force. They only take part in things inside the nucleus, and aren't long range enough to get outside the atom. They're like "photons" in that they carry energy and force, but they are specialized to holding things together. There is literally a special-purpose particle that holds protons and neutrons inside the nucleus.

For that matter, what keeps the Electrons and Protons from "binding" to each other.?

Another good question. Electrons do not really "orbit" the nucleus. They are constrained by the math of quantum mechanics to lie in a probability shell outside the nucleus and not to bore in and touch.

In another sense, electrons and protons are not only different weights (masses) and charges, but they are internally different stuff.

In a sense, they do bind to each other as closely as they can. A proton and an electron are "bound" in a hydrogen atom about as tightly as they can bind. In helium, two protons are bound by the special purpose nuclear binding force, and can have one, two, or more electrons in shells around them. The two-electron setup is stable, balanced to an extent by the equal charges in the two-proton nucleus (I'm ignoring neutrons for the moment). It takes energy to strip one or both electrons off the helium nucleus, or to force another one on.

As a side note, metals have outer electrons that can easily be shared with other same-kind atoms. A mass of all copper atoms, for instance, all share their outer electrons freely. These are the conduction electrons, which is why copper metal can pass electricity. It takes very, very little electrical force to move an electron from one atom to another, or into the mass from one side and out the other. Copper does this better than any metal than silver, whose conduction electrons are downright promiscuous.

[trem]

Hey R.G. -
Thank you, as usual.
I get the gist, if not the complete total of your explanation.
I gotta tell you...the last sentence in your post.....It Should Be On A T-Shirt AND On A Bumper Sticker.
Thanks Again