Learning Nuclear Science with Marbles
Zach Constan, National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
N
uclei are small: if an atom was the size of a football
field, the nucleus would be an apple sitting on the
50-yd line. At the same time, nuclei are dense: the
Earth, compressed to nuclear density, could fit inside four
Sears Towers. The subatomic level is strange and exotic. For
that reason, it’s not hard to get young minds excited about
nuclear science. But how does one move beyond analogies
like those above and offer a better understanding of the
extraordinary world of the nucleus? This is the challenge
faced by the outreach program at Michigan State University’s
National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL), a
National Science Foundation-supported facility specializing
in the creation and study of rare isotopes. It was necessary
to devise a model of the nucleus that students could inter-
act with and even use to approximate the nuclear reactions
that create exotic nuclei. The solution was to use magnetic
marbles.
The marble nucleus
The atom is composed of an electron cloud surround-
ing a nucleus at its center. The nucleus contains two kinds of
nucleons: positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons
(Fig. 1). The marble model of the nucleus is therefore quite
simple, using two colors of magnetic marbles to represent the
two types of nucleons. In the example here (Fig. 2), yellow and
green marbles represent protons and neutrons, respectively.
The magnetic force that pulls them together is standing in for
the strong force1 that actually binds nucleons together into a
nucleus. The magnets in the marbles aren’t very strong, so one
must add a spherical neodymium (rare-earth) magnet at the
center to hold the nucleons together. The point must be made
that this magnet does not represent a particle, nor is it an ac-
N P N
N P P 9Be
N tons on a marble nucleus. This reveals
N P
Fig. 1. Beryllium-9: an illustration.
Fig. 2. A marble model of the nucleus.
114 The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 48, February 2010
curate representation of the strong force.
With these three components, one can build a number of
different nuclei. The maximum atomic mass (total number
of protons and neutrons) of the model will depend on the
number of marbles you attach to your neodymium magnet. A
magnet of the same size as the marbles (~5/8 in or 1.6 cm) can
fit 12 nucleons in a shell around it. A 1-in magnet can fit 20
nucleons on the first layer, but is significantly more expensive.
More can be added beyond the first layer, but they are less
tightly bound—the weaker binding of exterior marbles can be
used as an instructional tool, however.
Demonstrations with the marble nucleus
It should be stressed to the students that a marble nucleus is
only a model and not intended to accurately represent the cor-
rect scale or shape of an actual nucleus. Protons and neutrons
are commonly represented by spheres, but in fact a marble is
not an accurate representation of a nucleon magnified a mil-
lion billion times.
The marble nucleus model has many advantages in help-
ing students learn nuclear science through hands-on activi-
ties. It appeals to the kinesthetic learner, stimulating minds
differently than descriptions or visual representations of the
nucleus. The marbles and magnets are fairly inexpensive and
widely available. A particular benefit of this model is that it
can be built/changed simply and quickly. The magnetic bonds
between parts are easily broken and re-formed, allowing stu-
dents to modify a nucleus as often as necessary. This flexibility
allows for the demonstration of many different concepts in
nuclear science with marble nuclei. Several such demonstra-
tions are presented below.
• Organization and classification
The periodic table is an important tool
used to organize and classify known ele-
ments. Each element is distinguished by
its atomic number, or simply the number
of protons in its nucleus. It is a simple
matter to show the meaning of atomic
number by altering the number of pro-
that widely disparate elements are created
by small changes in the nucleus.
The above exercise can lead students
to question the significance of neutrons in
the nucleus. Varying the number of neu-
trons on one’s marble nucleus will produce
many varieties of the same element. This
DOI: 10.1119/1.3293660
 Protons (Elements) CHART OF THE NUCLIDES P
N N
P N N P
8 O
15.9994
O 13 O 14 O 15 O 16 O 17 O 18 O 19 O 20 O 21 O 22 O 23 O 24
8.9ms 70.5s 122ms 99.758% 0.038% 0.204% 26.8s 13.5s 3.4s 2.2s 0.08s 65ms NP N
N 12 N 13 N 14 N 15 N 16 N 17 N 18 N 19 N 20 N 21 N 22 N 23
7 N
14.0067 11.0ms 9.97m 99.63% 0.37% 7.10s 4.17s 0.63s 0.42s 0.13s 0.08s 28ms 14ms

C9 C 10 C 11 C 12 C 13 C 14 C 15 C 16 C 17 C 18 C 19 C 20 C 22
6 C
12.011 127ms 19.3s 20.3m 98.89% 1.11% 5730y 2.45s 0.75s 0.19s 92ms 0.05s 0.01s 9ms

B B 10 B 11 B 12 B 13 B 14 B 15 B 19
5 10.81
B8
770ms
B9
~8E-19s
proton 20% 80% 20.4ms 17.3ms 16ms 10ms
B 17
5.1ms 3.3ms

4 Be
9.01218
Be 7 Be 8
53.28d ~1E-16s
alpha
Be 9 Be 10 Be 11 Be 12
100% 1.6E 6y 13.8s ~11.4ms
Be 14
4.6ms
11 12 13 14 15 16
3 Li
6.941
Li 6
7.5%
Li 7
92.5%
Li 8
844ms
Li 9
177ms
Li 11
8.6ms
9 10
2 He
4.00260
He 3 He 4
0.0001% 99.9999%
He 6
805ms
He 8
122ms
7 8 Stable

3 4 5 6 P
1
N N
H H1 H2 H3
1.0079 99.985% 0.015% 12.33y Beta-minus decay
P e-
P N P P
n1
10.4m Beta-plus decay

0 1 2
NP N
N Neutrons (Isotopes)
Fig. 3. A small portion of the Chart of the Nuclides. Fig. 4. A beta-minus decay changes the nucle-
us from one isotope to another.
generates discussion of isotopes and guides the class to see the nuclei can be used to replicate decay chains. For example, stu-
need for a Chart of the Nuclides (Fig. 3)—a graph that plots dents could build a carbon-9 marble nucleus and find on the
the number of protons versus neutrons in the nucleus, laying chart that it will undergo beta-plus decay. After simulating that
out every (known) isotope of every element. Students can be decay, their resulting nucleus is a boron-9, a proton emitter.
challenged to identify a marble nucleus’ isotope or construct a Removing one yellow marble gives a beryllium-8, which will
chosen isotope with their marbles. undergo alpha decay. This decay chain leaves students with
two helium nuclei, a free proton, a positron, and a neutrino.
• Radioactive decay They may notice how those components could “add up” to be a
A cursory study of the Chart of the Nuclides reveals that carbon-9 nucleus.
very few isotopes are stable. The unstable ones decay after A class of students, each with their own marble nucleus, can
some time, releasing particles/energy to approach a more work together to demonstrate half-life. After they all build be-
stable configuration. This process is readily approximated ryllium-10 nuclei (unstable beta-minus emitters), the teacher
with a marble nucleus. announces the passage of 1.6 million years, which happens to
Beta decays (Fig. 4) are the most common form of radioac- be beryllium-10’s half-life. One half of the class will put their
tive decay among unstable isotopes and can be achieved by in- nuclei through beta-minus decay, resulting in stable boron-10
troducing two new marbles: blue to represent an electron and nuclei, while the other half does not. After another 1.6 million
pink to represent a positron. To reproduce the “beta-minus” years, half of those who still have Be-10s would have decayed,
decay that is common among neutron-heavy isotopes, stu- and so on. Thus, the teacher can show that even a relatively
dents can imagine that one of the green neutrons transforms long-lived isotope will become very rare on a 4-billion-year-
into a yellow proton and a blue electron. After replacing one old planet such as Earth.
green marble with a yellow and a blue, the student pulls the
“electron” away to simulate the beta-minus particle radiat- • Nuclear structure
ing from the nucleus. This process also releases energy in the While the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus
form of an anti-neutrino, which is not represented by a marble influences such things as elemental properties and stabil-
here but should be noted nonetheless. A beta-plus decay, ity, their relative locations in the nucleus are also important.
where a proton transforms into a green neutron and a pink Marble nuclei can be used to explore ways nucleons may
positron, follows a similar pattern. be organized within a single nucleus. One can imagine and
In the realm of very heavy nuclei, alpha decay (the release construct many shapes other than a simple sphere, and it is
of a helium nucleus) is more prevalent. It is simple to repro- known that nuclei can take on forms similar to those of a
duce by pulling two green and two yellow marbles from the football, pancake, or pear.1
nucleus. Fission also occurs in this class of isotopes. By grasp- Students can also experiment with different arrangements
ing a marble nucleus with both hands and pulling it apart, of nucleons. While protons and neutrons have similar mass,
one can readily see how two new fission products would be their charge difference gives significance to their distribution
formed by this process. Nuclei that are very proton-rich can throughout the nucleus. For instance, a nucleus with an outer
decay by emitting one or more protons, which is easily repro- “shell” composed entirely of neutrons approximates in some
duced with the marble nuclei.2 ways matter that only contains neutrons, such as a neutron
The ability to simulate radioactivity also means that marble star.

The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 48, February 2010 115

 P
P N
N P N P
P N N
P N

P
PN PN
NN N
P Fig. 6. Three helium marble nuclei ready to fuse (by add-
P N P ing one magnet) into carbon-12.

Fig. 5. The “triple-alpha” fusion reaction that creates carbon in

a star.

• Nuclear reactions
Nuclei undergo many different reactions when colliding with
other nuclei and particles, depending on the nuclei involved
and the energy (speed) with which they interact. Marble
nuclei can serve as a visual aid for these events.
The nuclear fusion reactions occurring in our Sun and
other stars can also be modeled using marble nuclei. The p-p
chain, involving hydrogen/helium fusion, is readily repro-
duced with the marbles. The “triple-alpha” reaction3 (Fig. 5),
two nearly simultaneous reactions creating Be-8 and then
C-12, can be recreated by dropping a neodymium magnet into
the midst of three helium marble nuclei (Fig. 6). Again, the
neodymium magnet does not represent any particle or force,
but simply allows the three marble nuclei to fuse together
quickly and (almost) simultaneously. The triple-alpha reaction
may be responsible for the generation of stellar carbon and,
through the recycling of material after a star’s death, the pos-
sibility of carbon-based life forms on planets such as Earth.
Fragmentation, the collision of two nuclei that results in
one or both losing some nucleons, is probably the most excit-
ing demonstration using marble nuclei. Fragmentation is used
at accelerator facilities like NSCL to generate rare, unstable
isotopes. A “fragmentation box” (Fig. 7) was constructed to
approximate the way our laboratory produces neutron- or
proton-rich isotopes in flight for research purposes.
The acrylic display box contains a target marble nucleus
magnetically suspended from a screw. A “fast beam” nucleus is
accelerated down a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe and enters
the box [Fig. 8(a)], smashing into the target and sending mar-
bles flying [Fig. 8(b)]. The collision involves many variables:
the size/mass of beam or target nucleus, the energy of the
incoming beam (by altering the height of the PVC pipe), and
the impact parameter of the collision (whether it is a glancing
blow or a head-on crash). Given differences in these values,
there are three possible results for a collision:
Fig. 7. The “fragmentation box.” Fast beam nuclei come
down the PVC pipe at left and crash into the suspended
target nucleus.
1) Scattering: for low-energy/low-mass beams making glanc-
ing collisions, the beam nucleus may bounce off, changing
direction but causing no damage to either nucleus.
2) Fusion: for head-on collisions at low energy, the two nuclei
may combine.
3) Fragmentation: at high beam energies, one or both nuclei
lose nucleons, resulting in new isotopes that may be very
rare. Multiple fragmentation events will show that the cre-
ated isotopes can take many forms, with some statistically
more likely than others.
The models can behave in several ways that closely resem-
ble an actual fragmentation process: the cleaving of nucleons
as the beam nucleus passes the target is accurate, as are the
loose nucleons that fall near the fragment, which could come
from the collision or a “cooling” period when the excited
beam nucleus lowers its energy by releasing a few protons/
neutrons.4 However, some nonphysical results are also pos-
sible and should be noted as such, for example, the formation
of a very strangely shaped (chain-like) target or beam nucleus,
or the creation of unbound isotopes that are too proton- or
neutron-rich to exist.

116 The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 48, February 2010

 a) b)

Fig. 8. Two marble nuclei, “fast beam” and “target,” (a) before and (b) during fragmentation.

Summary
To help teachers include nuclear science in their class-
room, a lesson plan for grades 7-12 is available at http://www.
jinaweb.org/outreach/marble. The exercises in this lesson can
be teacher-led or self-guided, and incorporate most of the
above activities/demonstrations. Several classes have partici-
pated in this lesson during their visits to NSCL, often as an
introduction to our research before taking a tour. They were
visibly engaged by their hands-on time with the marble nuclei,
and their comments show that it is an effective and enjoyable
way to learn about the questions of nuclear science. It has also
been used to teach the basics to science teachers and students
in Physics of Atomic Nuclei, NSCL’s summer nuclear science
program, preparing them for lectures on nuclear research.
Using the models in the ways listed above (and the lesson
plan built around them) can ground students in the meaning
of several nuclear science concepts. The marbles help bridge
the gap between the human-scale world and the impossibly
small and abstract domain of the nucleus. Amazing facts
about the nucleus may get people’s attention, but students are
brought much closer to the world of nuclear science by put-
ting it in their hands.
etcetera...
Acknowlegments
Many thanks to Lindsay Hebeler, Katie McAlpine, Hendrik
Schatz, and Remco Zegers. This outreach program is
supported by NSCL and the Joint Institute for Nuclear
Astrophysics (JINA), an NSF Physics Frontier Center.
References
1. “The ABC’s of nuclear science,” Phys. Teach. 40, 190 (March
2002); http://www.lbl.gov/abc.
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_decay lists many
types of decay beyond alpha, beta, and gamma, and provides
more background.
3. D. A. Ostlie and B. W. Carroll, An Introduction to Modern Stel-
lar Astrophysics (Addison-Wesley, San Francisco, 2007).
4. http://www.nscl.msu.edu/science/nuclearscience describes
how the fragmentation process leads to an excited (hot) nucleus
from which particles can “evaporate.”
Zach Constan, Outreach Coordinator at National Superconducting
Cyclotron Laboratory, welcomes your comments or further ideas on using
the marble nuclei or other programs on www.nscl.msu.edu/outreach at
constan@nscl.msu.edu.

Early Muslim Leaders in etcetera... Editor Albert A. Bartlett

Department of Physics
University of Colorado
Scientific Thought Boulder, CO 80309-0390

“Yet it was our Muslim forefathers who first held up the torch of rationality, tolerance, and
the advancement of knowledge throughout the dark ages of medieval Europe. Centuries
before the European scholars Bacon, Descartes, and Galileo considered the scientific
method, the great thinker Ibn Al-Haytham (10th century) laid down the rules of the
empirical approach, describing how the scientific method should operate through obser-
vation, measurement, experiment, and conclusion, the purpose being to ‘search for truth,
not support of opinions.’ Likewise, Ibn Al-Nafis (13th century) stressed the importance of
accepting contrarian views, subject to the test of evidence and rational analysis.”1

1. Ismail Serageldin, Science 321, 745 (8 Aug. 2008). Dr. Serageldin is the Director of the Library
of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt.

The Physics Teacher ◆ Vol. 48, February 2010 117