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The Nucleus
As we have seen, the atom is the key to understanding all the forces, except for grav-
ity, that affect us in our everyday life. For these atomic interactions, the nucleus plays
a dual role. It holds the atom together by the electric attraction between the positive
constituents in the nucleus and the negatively charged electrons. It also attracts the
electrons in other atoms to cause these atoms to stay together to form the matter that
we come in contact with, including ourselves. We have seen earlier that, in fact, there
is a delicate attractive-repulsive balance causing atoms to attract each other in some
cases, and in others ...