| If a nucleus has too many protons for its number of neutrons, it will be radioactive. |
| With the neutrons traveling much, much faster, I estimate about 28 percent of the material will go critical in that quadrillionth of a second. |
| The protons and neutrons in the nucleus are made of elementary particles called quarks. |
| In the course of the 20th century, science successively named electrons, protons, neutrons, and quarks. |
| Alpha emitting radionuclides emit alpha particles, each consisting of 2 protons and 2 neutrons. |
| That process would briefly liberate the quarks and gluons that make up protons and neutrons. |
