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re: How does that work ?
Johannes — (archived)

The arrangement of the protons and neutrons in the nucleus of the atom has a profound effect on the behavior of the element.
For instance, the element Xenon has the atomic weight of 131.29, the atomic weight of Iron is 55.845. According to that information, Iron is less than half the "weight" of Xenon, but Xenon is a gas and Iron is a solid.
If the structure of the nucleus had no effect on the density of the elemental material, then xenon might be solid or iron could be a gas, in standard atmospheric pressure and temperature.

Example of the difference that one electron makes.

Carbon has the atomic number of 6 and atomic weight of about 12, such an arrangement makes carbon into a solid under standard conditions, it does not make carbon any more or less dense if we remove or add an electron from or into the orbital shell structure, all we will get is carbon ions.
But if one proton and one neutron is added into the nucleus, then the element changes to Nitrogen and becomes a gas at standard conditions.
The extra electron in the orbital shell is not the cause of the density change, so it must be caused by the extra charge from the proton and the arrangement of the charges in the nucleus caused by the position of the neutrons.

Johannes

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