Draw a plot of potential energy of a pair of nucleons as a function of their separation . Write two important conclusions which you can draw regarding the nature of nuclear forces .

Explanation

Plot of potential of a pair of nucleons as a function of their separation is given in fig.

The potential is minimum at a distance `r_(0) (~~0.8 fm)`. Following may be drawn from this graph:
(i) The nuclear force is much stronger than the Coulomb force acting between charges or the gravitational forces between masses.
(ii) The nuclear force between two nucleons falls rapidly to zero as theri ditance is mroe then a few femtometers.
(iii) For a separation greater than `r_(0)`, the force is force is attractive and for separations less than `r_(0)` force is repulsive.