In Capstone, we were required to write an essay that showed all our research. For my introduction, I just wrote a hook, and then I stated my main inquiry question, then I said my sub-questions. For my first body paragraph, I just answered my main inquiry question. For all of my other body paragraphs, I just answered each of my sub-questions. For my conclusions, I just said my four sub-questions again.

Have you ever wondered what your body is made of? Its made of atoms. But how do these atoms stick together? What is the atom made of? That is why I chose my main inquiry which is in what ways do protons and neutrons affect the structure of an atom and how are they being used to advance proton therapies? This led me soon to 5 sub-questions. How do protons help bind the nucleus, how do neutrons hold the nucleus intact, how are protons used in other kinds of radiation therapies, and how are protons being used to advance proton therapies? 

The answer to this question in simple terms is that protons affect the structure of an atom because they balance the charge in the nucleus. Protons have a charge of +1 and electrons have a charge of -1. The protons balance the nucleus by ensuring that the electrons don’t make everything too negative. But, protons repel each other using the electromagnetic force, so the nucleus would just rip apart without neutrons because the strong force is powered by the neutrons, and if the atom removes too many neutrons, the strong force would slowly get weaker and weaker until the electromagnetic force is stronger than the strong force. Many places are trying to make proton therapy better and better. For example, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is trying to advance proton therapy. Their goal is to achieve the shortest paths to the distal tumor edge while minimizing passage through healthy tissues. Also, Protons and neutrons stick together because they exchange, mesons which bind them together. After they are apart, it takes some effort to get them apart.

Protons are essential to the structure of an atom. Without protons, the atom will fall apart. Protons help because protons have a positive charge while electrons have a negative charge. Because of this, protons are essential to the atom because if the atom has a really big charge, then it would be very unstable, but if the charge was zero, it would be extremely stable. Also, research has shown that the most stable atoms are when the number of protons and electrons are equal. Also, a nucleus of only (multiple) protons would almost certainly be radioactively unstable though, which seems to be the intent of the final question. Basically, the all-proton nucleus would be very high in energy, and to get rid of some energy it would undergo a nuclear process. While there are more types possible in real materials, the only ones available to this nucleus would be positron emission, which is releasing a sort of positively-charged electron from a proton and electron capture, which is adding a negatively-charged electron to a proton. Both of these would reduce the nuclear charge and number of protons in the nucleus by 1 while increasing the number of neutrons in the nucleus. The most likely reason that we don’t see other atoms forming nuclei with protons with no neutrons or electrons is that such a thing would not be stable. In other words, there are forces that would not allow such a thing to exist under normal conditions. A hydrogen nucleus with a single proton and no neutrons or electrons occurs when a hydrogen atom loses an electron, although this form does not exist for long because it reacts very quickly with things around it. This form is just a single proton, and it has a charge of a positive one. Aside from this form of a hydrogen ion, aka a single proton, nuclei with protons only (no neutrons or electrons) do not commonly exist. Protons are essential to the structure of an atom. 

Neutrons are also essential to the atomic structure. The force that holds the atomic nucleus together is known as the strong force. Recall that protons are positively charged and repel each other by the electromagnetic force (a positive charge repels another positive charge). The reason that the positive nucleus doesn’t fly apart is because of the strong nuclear force which acts between protons and neutrons and “glues” them together. This force is caused by the exchange of a particle known as a ( gluon ), acting between quarks (which are the subatomic particles that make up both protons and neutrons). Removing neutrons from a nucleus would decrease the strong force while increasing the electrostatic repulsion of protons (by moving them closer together). Eventually, if enough neutrons were removed, the electrostatic repulsion might become stronger than the strong force holding the nucleus together and the nucleus would break apart.The strong forces oppose the electromagnetic force of repulsion between protons. Like ”glue” the strong force keeps the protons together to form the nucleus. The strong forces and electromagnetic forces both hold the atom together. Neutrons are essential to the atomic structure. 

There are so many different types of radiation therapy. 3D conformal radiation therapy, which shapes the radiation beam to match the shape of the tumor. Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is very similar to 3D conformal radiation, it is used to treat cancerous and noncancerous tumors. Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is very similar to 3D conformal radiation, it is used to treat cancerous and noncancerous tumors.Volumetric modulated radiation therapy is a novel radiation therapy technique that delivers the radiation dose continuously as the treatment machine rotates. This technique accurately shapes the radiation dose to the tumour while minimizing the dose to the organs surrounding the tumour. Image-guided radiation therapy uses imaging during radiation therapy to improve the precision and accuracy of treatment delivery. Image-guided radiation therapyis used to treat tumors in areas of the body that move, such as the lungs. Stereotactic radiosurgery is a very precise form of therapeutic radiation that can be used to treat abnormalities in the brain and spine, including cancer, epilepsy, trigeminal neuralgia, and arteriovenous malformations. Brachytherapy is a type of internal radiation that uses radiation to destroy cancer cells and shrink tumors. The radiation often comes in the form of seeds, ribbons, or wires. These are put into your body, in or near the cancer cells. Superficial x-ray radiation therapy is a type of external radiotherapy. It treats cancer on or close to the skin surface. The radiation doesn’t travel far into your body. You can have superficial radiotherapy with low-energy x-rays (photons) or electrons. Intraoperative radiation therapy allows direct radiation to the target area while sparing normal surrounding tissue. IORT is used to treat cancers that are difficult to remove during surgery and when there is a concern that microscopic amounts of cancer may remain. These are only a few. There are so many more types of radiation therapy. All of these types of radiation therapy are being used to treat different types of cancer. So many places are trying to advance different types of radiation therapy to help cancer. 

How are protons being used to advance proton therapies? Proton therapy is just a costly type of radiation therapy. It costs about $30000 to $120000, but regular radiation therapy only costs about $15000. The advantage of proton therapy is that it can precisely target the tumor and while doing this, reducing damage to healthy tissue near the tumor. The common side effects of proton therapy are fatigue, hair loss, skin redness, and soreness. So many places are trying to improve proton therapy. For example, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center says “Optimizing beam direction is essential since fewer proton beams are required than with IMRT. The goal is to achieve the shortest paths to the distal tumor edge while minimizing passage through complex tissues. Critical structures must be avoided as biological effectiveness is higher at the end of the beam, and the range can be uncertain. Planning for proton beam therapy takes heterogeneities of tissues into account, with consideration for how varying tissue densities may impede power. Potential setup errors and any uncertainties related to changes in internal and external anatomy must also be considered, as they may shift the Bragg peak location.” AIso, The national library of medicine says” Protons, accelerated to therapeutic energies ranging from 70 to 250MeV, typically with a cyclotron or a synchrotron, are transported to the treatment room where they enter the treatment head mounted on a rotating gantry. The initial thin beams of protons are spread laterally and longitudinally and shaped appropriately to deliver treatments. Spreading and shaping can be achieved by electro-mechanical means to treat the patients with “passively-scattered proton therapy” (PSPT) or using magnetic scanning of thin “beamlets” of protons of a sequence of initial energies. The latter technique can be used to treat patients with optimized intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT), the most powerful proton modality. Despite the high potential of proton therapy, the clinical evidence supporting the broad use of protons is mixed. It is generally acknowledged that proton therapy is safe, effective, and recommended for many types of pediatric cancers, including ocular melanomas, chordomas, and chondrosarcomas. Although promising results have been and continue to be reported for many other types of cancers, they are based on small studies. Considering the high cost of establishing and operating proton therapy centers, questions have been raised about their cost-effectiveness.” Also, Varian Medical Systems says ”In addition, our center is unique because we offer the most advanced ways of delivering PBS proton therapy. For instance, we are looking into line-scanning or contour scanning. By building up the optimal dose distribution, we can precisely tailor the dose to the shape of the tumor in three dimensions. We are also devising repainting technology for better motion mitigation for optimizing proton delivery.”Many people are trying to advance proton therapy. 

In conclusion, protons and neutrons are essential to the structure of an atom and many people are trying to advance proton therapy. You can prove this by asking these questions. How do protons help bind the nucleus, how do neutrons hold the nucleus intact, how are protons used in other kinds of radiation therapies, and how are protons being used to advance proton therapies?  

In 5th grade, we are doing a project called Capstone. In Capstone, students choose a topic they are interested in and research questions about that topic. As part of that unit, we have to interview an expert and visit somewhere related to our topic and questions. I feel really nervous that my project will not turn out as well as I hope. 

The first part of the project was to choose a topic, then pick a main inquiry question. I picked protons as my topic, and I chose in what ways protons and neutrons affect the structure of an atom and how are they being used to advance proton therapies as my main inquiry question. I chose protons as my topic because it seemed like an interesting topic. 

In the process of coming up with my main inquiry question, I had to first make a regular main inquiry question, then Ms. Cooper had to check it and if she wanted to change the wording a bit, she would change it. 

For my sub-questions, I just broke up my main inquiry questions into 5 questions.  In what ways do protons and neutrons affect the structure of an atom and how are they being used to advance proton therapies were my main inquiry question and one of my questions was in what ways do protons affect the structure of an atom.

In all, I am very worried about this project. 

When Mrs. Cooper told us that we were writing feature articles, I immediately thought of tennis because I play tennis. But then Jaylen came over and said not to do tennis. Then I thought of government because we had just learned/were still learning about government, but then I realized that Jake J was doing government. So, I thought of the causes of the revolutionary war.

Then, I thought of my title. But I could not think of anything, so I just put The Causes of the Revolutionary War for my title. Then, I thought of my categories, but again, I could not think of anything, so I just put The French and Indian war, The Proclamation of 1763, The Quartering Act, Boston Massacre, and The Intolerable acts. Then, we had to do the meaning, and I could not think of anything, but eventually, I thought of that the Americans were right to break away from the British. 

After I finished my article, I forgot I put a box at the top of every single slide and I had to delete some slides. It was annoying.

I liked when I designed all of the layouts because I like designing small adjustments. I did not like the writing part because I just don’t like spending a lot of time writing since it is very boring. 

I do not know which strategy was most effective. Most of the strategies were pretty effective, like putting the meaning. Using the strategies was pretty fun. 

I don’t know what I am proud of, but the first thing that pops up in my mind is me being able to find pictures. The pictures were really hard to find because when I search for an image on google slides, it does not always show the image I want on the top. 

A feature article was much harder than our last writing unit, which was writing a personal narrative. It was hard because you have to research more. The personal narrative is just about what happened in real life, but in a feature article, you need to research if you forget about something. It was a different experience

Overall, my experience writing the feature article had some enjoyable parts, like designing the layouts, and some not enjoyable parts, like the boring parts, which was writing it.