nucleus builder (nuke): ALL Content available

What might we learn by constructing atomic nuclei one particle at a time?

That is the question behind NUCLEUS BUILDER (NUKE), an interactive model that arranges protons, neutrons, up quarks and down quarks within a common geometric structure. NUKE is inspired by the cross section of Noah’s Ark and explores whether a load-bearing architecture—beginning with a flat raft-like structure which supports a growing vertical plane, like a "sail"—can reveal patterns related to nuclear organization and stability. 

Noah’s Ark provides a compelling conceptual inspiration for a nuclear model because it encapsulated an ordered sample of Creation and preserved it within a protective, load-bearing structure while the surrounding world passed through the destructive forces of the Flood. In a similar metaphorical sense, the atomic nucleus contains the fundamental material from which the visible world is built, held together within an extraordinarily compact and resilient structure. NUKE explores whether the Ark’s sectional geometry—with its foundation, internal divisions and rising walls—might therefore offer a useful architectural pattern for arranging nucleons and their associated quark content. The comparison is not presented as proof that the Ark was literally designed as an atom, but as a structural analogy that inspired a consistent and testable model.

Similarly, NUKE is not a replacement for established nuclear physics. It is an educated structural hypothesis implemented as a precise computer model. Its value lies in making its assumptions visible: every particle count is calculated, every location is defined and every nucleus is constructed according to the same simple, geometric rules.

The interactive display allows those rules to be explored and evaluated directly, all on a tiny 34kB webpage.

An isotope is defined by three familiar quantities:

• (Z): number of protons
• (N): number of neutrons
• (A): mass number, where (A=Z+N)

NUKE also tracks the quark content implied by those nucleons. A proton contains two up quarks and one down quark, while a neutron contains one up quark and two down quarks.

The display uses four colors:

• Red for protons, represents "Pitch" in the Noah's Ark Framework
• Brown for neutrons, represents "Logs" in the Noah's Ark Framework
• Green for down quarks, represent load in Noah's Ark.
• Yellow for up quarks, also represent load in Noah's Ark.

These colors represent related bookkeeping layers of the NUKE construction. Red and brown show the baryonic framework; green and yellow show the quark load associated with the selected proton and neutron counts.

This should not be mistaken for a claim that quarks have colors corresponding to the display. The colors are visual identifiers used by the model.  Quark color charge is brought out in the 3D representation.

Every NUKE construction begins with what is referred to as the Raft, a 32-by-8 grid shown from above.  If one were to cut Noah's Ark length-wise in half, and split it open, the Raft is the assumed 6-cubit section of bulkhead between frames.  In this view, the raft is a flat structure made of logs cemented together with pitch.  The dashboard shows the logs and pitch, but the main perspective is that of the quarks filling in the flat surface.

The bottom six rows carry the green and yellow quark load. The upper two rows contain the brown neutron foundation and the red proton structure. The Raft is therefore not merely a container. It is a load-bearing arrangement in which the availability of baryon support determines where quarks may initially be placed.

The brown foundation begins near the center at position (x=16). It then grows outward, left first and then right, until it can form a 30-position base extending from (x=1) through (x=30).

The red structure follows a related but distinct sequence. It begins at (x=15), alternates around the central separator and can eventually extend to the two outside proton positions at (x=0) and (x=31).

Four columns have special structural roles.  These columns act as wall, pitch or separator supports, in anticipation of the frame that it will support.. Additional neutrons begin the vertical frame structure (what will be the Sail) at these positions.

A proton cannot simply occupy a restricted support position whenever one is available. The appropriate neutron wall must first begin developing before the corresponding proton position is released. This creates an interdependence between the red and brown structures.  This gives the raft an asymmetric aspect that predicts the departure from P=N stability.

The native quark region of the Raft is divided into three shelves.

The green shelf contains 14 columns.  The first yellow shelf, Y1, contains six columns.  The second yellow shelf, Y2, also contains six columns.

Each shelf can grow through six quark rows. A quark may initially enter a column only when that column has red or brown support.

Down quarks first occupy their native green shelf. Up quarks fill Y1 and Y2. If one native region cannot accept its complete load, the model allows controlled crossover: green can enter open yellow positions, and yellow can enter open green positions.

This produces structures that may be complete, incomplete or mixed. Those differences later become useful when evaluating shelf closure and green-yellow balance.

One of the most distinctive features of NUKE is the Cut at (x=16).  This is inspired by the Ark and represents an opening in the center of the model, associated with the Ark Door.  It is the origin of the structure and and predicts that atoms have a "Cut" that can absorb or emit energy.  The Cut also has spiritual resonance beyond the scope of this posting.

When the ordinary supported shelves cannot accept the entire quark load, excess green and yellow squares may temporarily occupy the Cut. The Cut remains available only until the brown wall begins at that position. Once the neutron structure begins building the Sail, the Cut closes and is sealed with a red pitch particle.

Other support columns—(x=23), (x=30) and (x=1)—can also provide temporary quark storage while they remain open. As the brown walls reach those columns, the temporary spaces close and the construction is forced into its next stage.

The resulting transition is not an arbitrary change of drawing mode. It follows from competition for a finite set of locations. Positions that temporarily hold quark load are eventually required as structural supports.

That competition between load and structure is central to the NUKE concept.

The program recognizes four general construction regimes:

• Raft
• Corners
• Depleted Sail
• Sail

In the Raft regime, the nucleus can still be represented primarily within the flat foundation.

The Corners regime begins as the quark population reaches Raft capacity but the neutron count has not yet established a full Sail. It is a transitional geometry: the base is turning upward, but the vertical structure is still incomplete.

The Depleted Sail is a narrow transition in which Sail construction has begun with limited structural support.

The full Sail develops when the remaining baryon and quark populations move out of the Raft and into the vertical portion of the model, the Sail.

These modes allow NUKE to treat light, intermediate and heavy nuclei as different stages of one continuous construction rather than as unrelated diagrams.

The 2D Sail is a side view of the material that can no longer remain in the Raft.

The Raft’s completed positions first appear at the bottom of the Sail as a dark shadow or reference layer. Remaining protons, neutrons and quarks then grow upward from that foundation.

Protons occupy the outside edges of the Sail, and neutrons form four internal walls.  The down-quark shelf grows outward from the Cut toward the left.

The up-quark region grows outward on the right. Y1 fills first from (x=17) through (x=22), followed by Y2 from (x=24) through (x=29).

This fill order is important. It preserves the distinction between the two six-position yellow shelves and allows closures, partial closures and transitions to remain visible.

The Sail is therefore organized around a central division:

• Green load develops leftward from the Cut.
• Yellow load develops rightward.
• Brown walls provide structural boundaries.
• Red columns define the outside proton edges.

As heavier nuclei are selected, the construction rises through successive rows while maintaining the same 32-position width.  The main determinant of stability is if the brown and red squares remain close to being even as they build upwards.  In early sail, brown gets a little ahead of red, because some "piling" on the raft is allowed.

The NUKE 3D Raft/Sail graphic is a top-view projection derived from the completed 2D matrices.

The 3D layer does not independently decide where particles belong. It reads the Raft and Sail after the 2D construction has been completed and maps those positions into a radial coordinate system.

In the Raft view:

• The 32 horizontal positions become radial locations.
• Red and brown structural positions become concentric rings.
• The six quark rows become six spokes.
• Green and yellow squares become beads placed along those spokes.

When the Sail becomes active, the 3D model expands to five groups of six spokes, producing 30 Sail spokes in total. Each group repeats the same six-spoke pattern at a different angular offset.

The result is a circular projection in which the vertical rows of the 2D Sail become successive six-spoke groups. A flat grid becomes a layered radial structure.

The red and brown positions have different legal capacities in the 3D Sail.

Each of the 30 spokes provides:

• Two primary red positions
• Four primary brown positions

This gives an ordinary 3D Sail capacity of 60 red and 120 brown structural positions.

Brown generally leads the formation of a new spoke because it provides the greater share of structural support. Red can initiate a spoke, but red and brown growth is coupled so that the model does not open new groups unnecessarily while usable positions remain in an active group.

Beyond the ordinary red and brown capacities of the spoke groups, specifically at U-242, additional structural particles can enter available locations normally associated with the green-yellow spoke lattice. This is especially important above uranium, where the model begins placing red and brown overage into quark-space positions rather than discarding the excess or creating unlimited new spokes. This finite-space behavior gives the superheavy region a visibly different structure, and is a prediction that this model makes: above U-242, baryons begin to collect in the space normally occupied by quarks. This reaches a maximum at Og-294 because the model will be overfilled at Og-295, and baryons will begin "kicking out" quarks.  This is an implicit feature that this geometry possesses that Og-294 is the limit predicted by the NUKE model.  It is interesting to note that Og-294 heaviest currently-recognized isotope.

Green and yellow beads are also placed in six-spoke rounds.  Each spoke represents a quark color charge and are colored white, orange, and blue.  This is consistent with the idea that each quark has a color charge.   NUKE arranges quarks on three repeating spoke-color classes corresponding conceptually to color charge. This produces approximate—and sometimes exact—global color balance, although I noticed the current 3D mapping does not yet enforce color neutrality separately for every proton and neutron.  This is not a limiting factor and will be corrected in the next version.

The model begins near the Cut, distributes a round across the six local spokes and then advances outward to the next radial location. A new six-spoke group does not open until the preceding group has exhausted its legal closure space.

This closure rule prevents the 3D model from producing unnecessary extra spokes during transitions. It also keeps the 3D graphic connected to the shelf logic visible in the 2D Sail.

The five-group structure can be understood as a finite address system:

The webpage permits exploration through (Z=120), (N=190) and (A=310). At the upper mass limit, (3A=930) quarks are represented—still within the useful capacity of the 3D projection.

Elements beyond (Z=118) are exploratory cases. They are shown by atomic number because they do not yet have recognized permanent element symbols.

NUKE also includes an experimental stability predictor. It compares features of the completed structure with classifications derived from nuclear BNL wallet-card data.  The prediction is calculated live on the webpage, not brought in from a table.

The predictor examines several structural properties:

R/B Structure measures proton-neutron balance across the structure.  It carries approximately 80–85% of the positive scoring signal.  Simply put, it is red-brown (pitch and log) evenness.  While the raft or sail is populating, do the red squares stay close to even with the brown squares?  This is an indicator of stability.  Do the red or brown squares get way ahead of the other?  Typically, this indicates instability.  The expected relationship changes with the construction regime because a mature Sail does not have the same geometry as a developing Raft.  We can predict stability to almost 85% with this evenness criterion alone.

R/B Alignment examines the relative placement of red and brown occupancy in the 3D spoke groups.  If the model has three browns or reds on one side of the circle and none on the other, this promotes instability.

G/Y Load measures how evenly the up- and down-quark load is distributed through the active 3D structure.  If we get three green (or yellow) beads on one side of the circle, this also promotes instability.

Green Shelf and Yellow Shelf identify completed quark shelves. In the raft, a flat green or yellow top is a completed shelf.  In the sail, seven or fourteen greens across fill the shelf, while six or twelve yellow squares fill the yellow shelf.  A completed Shelf closure is treated as a possible sign of structural organization, although its importance depends on the active regime and Sail group.  It is interesting to note that shell-model closures and nuclear sub-orbital closure in the spin-parity model fall along yellow shelf closures.  NOTE: In the raft, one can see green and yellow squares cross-pollinating.  It is supposed that this is also allowed in the sail, when favorable, even though its was found (see C3 in the validation report) that its contribution to the model is mixed.  Therefore, it is not included in NUKE.  An example in the sail is double-magic Pb-208.  There are two yellow squares that can move to the green side, and I believe that this is a possible conformation of the isotope because it completes both shelves at evenness.

G−Y Balance reports the signed difference between green and yellow occupancy in the active six-spoke group.  For each spoke, do the number of green beads equal that of yellow.  Many times, this indicates stability.  Excess greens signal beta-minus decay.  Excess yellow often indicates beta-plus decay (neutron capture). This is one of the most interesting measurements of the 3D graphic.  Watch stability increase at it goes to zero.  It is displayed as a diagnostic quantity and is not directly added to the score.

G→R/B Repair tests a limited repair mechanism. Under specific conditions, an excess green remainder may be available to fill in missing red or brown structure, provided that a sufficiently complete green shelf remains behind.  This repair potential is added to the score.  Here NUKE is predicting that these nuclei "self-heal", via the "Cut".  Ca-48 is an example! Six greens can go out of the Cut into the six red empty spaces. Take a look!

Nucleon Pairing, otherwise known as parity, evaluates the even-odd combination of (Z) and (N). Pairing is weighted differently in the four different construction regimes mentions and five Sail spoke groups.  Even-Even and Even-Odd parity is given a score bump.  Odd-odd parity is given a score tax.  This is done because odd numbers of logs or pitch particles contributed to general structural imbalance.

These results are combined into a NUKE score and compared with a prediction threshold. The output is presented as a model prediction, not as measured nuclear data.

The main isotope label reports the BNL wallet-card classification included with the program:

• STABLE
• META-STABLE
• UNSTABLE

The prediction panel separately reports NUKE’s structural conclusion. Every prediction begins with the word PREDICTED so that an observed classification is not confused with a model result.

This distinction is essential. NUKE can agree with the wallet-card result, disagree with it or explore a nucleus beyond the included data. Each outcome has a different meaning.  The NUKE Model has been validated to have 94% overall accuracy with 92% stable recall.  The Validation Report is available on the NUKE webpage.  

Agreement identifies a structure that is consistent with the current rules. Disagreement identifies a possible weakness, missing criterion or interesting exception. A prediction for an unobserved nucleus is an extrapolation and must be treated accordingly.

NUKE does not claim that the atomic nucleus has been observed in the form shown by these graphics. The diagrams are representations of a proposed organizational system.

The model instead asks several testable questions:

• Can one fixed construction sequence accommodate nuclei across the periodic table?
• Do stable nuclei preferentially produce balanced or completed NUKE structures?
• Do changes in nuclear behavior correspond to Raft, corner and Sail transitions?
• Does the six-spoke 3D mapping reveal relationships that are hidden in the 2D grid?
• Can the same rules make useful predictions without isotope-specific exceptions?
• What happens when the structure is extended into the superheavy region?

A useful model should expose its failures as clearly as its successes. NUKE therefore remains an experimental framework: visible enough to inspect, definite enough to test and open to revision when its predictions do not match the evidence.

The interactive NUKE display allows the user to change (Z), (N) or (A) and immediately observe the reconstructed nucleus.

Light nuclei can be examined within the Raft. Intermediate nuclei reveal the turn through the corners. Heavy nuclei develop successive Sail groups, and superheavy exploratory cases begin using the overage regions of the 3D lattice.

The value of the display is not simply that it produces an image. It shows the consequences of a rule-based construction in real time.

Choose an isotope. Add or remove one proton or neutron. Watch which shelf changes, which support appears, whether a new spoke opens and how the stability criteria respond.

That is the purpose of NUKE: to turn a proposed nuclear architecture into something that can be seen, manipulated and critically examined.

NUCLEUS BUILDER (NUKE)
Nuclear Structure Inspired by Noah’s Ark Section
© 2026 Derek Marshall. All rights reserved.