How come the protons in the nucleus of an atom do not spin around like the electrons do?

Asked by: Stephen DeCamp

But perhaps you are talking about the "spin" property of electrons, sometimes pictured as the particle spinning on its own axis. If this is what you are referring to then the answer is that protons (and neutrons) do spin. The property of spin is the same for electrons and for protons. They are both "spin 1/2 particles". This is a property that tells us about the quantum mechanical behaviour of the particle and behaves mathematically in the same way as angular momentum.

Answered by: Alys Morgan, M.S., Physics Grad Student, Oxford