![]() It could alter our understanding of the universe and the fundamental laws that govern it. ![]() Finding the answers won’t just change how we think about the particles themselves. Whether protons live forever, how big they are and what they are really made from are just some of the questions physicists continue to grapple with. Yet despite our best efforts in the intervening years, much about this ubiquitous particle remains shrouded in mystery. It was just over a century ago that Ernest Rutherford demonstrated that protons are one of the basic building blocks of all atomic nuclei. Yet we still don’t really understand them. They make up more than 86 per cent of the visible matter in the universe by mass, and they are fundamental to our existence. The number of protons in an atom determines whether it is hydrogen, carbon, oxygen or uranium. DEEP in the heart of every atom lurk protons, tiny particles from which the chemical elements were forged, first in the searing heat of the big bang and then in the nuclear furnaces of stars.
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