Gribbin and Rees, COSMIC COINCIDENCE.
"For example, if the nuclear forces, which control the behavior of protons and neutrons within the nucleus of an atom, were slightly stronger than they actually are, compared with electrical forces, then the di-proton(an atomic nucleus of two protons) would be stable. In our Universe, the electrical force of repulsion between two positively charged protons overwhelms the nuclear force of attraction between them, and di-protons do not exist. Two protons can be held in a stable atomic nucleus only if there is a neutron or two there as well; these uncharged particles add to the attractive force but do not affect the repulsive force. Now, stars gain their energy by fusing protons and neutrons together into such nuclei; if instead they could fuse pairs of protons together into di-protons, stars would evolve quite differently and the Universe would be a very different place. If, on the other hand, nuclear forces were slightly weaker than they are in our Universe, no complex nuclei could form at all. The entire Universe would be formed of hydrogen, the simplest element, whose atoms consist of a single proton and a single electon."
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