Draw the plot of potential energy of a pair of nucleons as a function of their separation. Write two important conclusions that can be drawn from this plot.
Show Hint
Remember the three important regions of the nucleon potential energy curve:
\[
r>2\ \text{fm}
\Rightarrow
\text{Force is negligible}
\]
\[
0.8\ \text{fm}<r<2\ \text{fm}
\Rightarrow
\text{Force is attractive}
\]
\[
r<0.5\ \text{fm}
\Rightarrow
\text{Force is strongly repulsive}
\]
This behaviour explains why nuclei are stable and why nucleons remain confined inside the nucleus.