Which characteristic of the nuclear force explains its dominance over the Coulomb force in the nucleus?
**Nuclear force** strong, short-range ~1 fm, attractive, charge independent, saturated in large nuclei because each nucleon interacts only with neighbors, not all others, so BE/A saturates ~8 MeV, primary factor limiting stable nuclei size is Coulomb repulsion between protons growing as Z² vs strong force saturating, beyond Z≈83 no stable nuclei, competition between Coulomb and strong. The nuclear force is much stronger than the Coulomb force at short distances (within the nucleus), allowing it to overcome proton repulsion and bind nucleons together. Using E_n = -13.6/n² eV, r_n = n² a₀, L = n
Ref: NCERT > Physics Book > Atoms and Nuclei > Radioactive Decay, Nuclear Forces and Stability