Discovery of Neutron
The existence of neutrons was noted with the help of the Rutherford Nuclear Model of the Atom. there are a few points noted in the discovery of neutrons. (It also gives us remarkable information on the arrangement of the constituent particles)
- In this experiment where most of the alpha particle passes unreflected.
- some of them deviate through smaller angles and some with an angle greater than 180 degrees.
- Thus it indicated the presence of a particle in the middle part of the atom i.e nucleus; it marked the presence of a mass particle and the neutron was discovered later in 1932 by James Chadwick.
The image given below shows the setup for the discovery of Neutrons.
As electrons have negligible mass and this means the mass of an atom is only due to the proton only but it would create problems in the model thus it was indicated the presence of some neutral particle with a proton that has equal mass to that of a proton must be present in the atom. Rutherford realized that the atomic mass of different species cannot be determined unless there is the presence of another particle thus, Rutherford in 1920 stated that there is a kind of neutral particle with a mass equal to the mass proton present. James Chadwick, in 1932 during the study of the artificial transmutation of atoms, discovered a particle indicated by Rutherford in 1920. When a fast-moving alpha particle is bombarded with a thin foil of beryllium and beryllium changes into carbon and emits a neutral particle of the same mass as the proton. This new fundamental particle was named neutron because of its neutral nature and The particle was also found in many other reactions.
Neutrons
Neutrons are fundamental subatomic particles of the atom. An atom is made up of electrons, protons and neutrons. James Chadwick, an English physicist, discovered the neutron in 1932. Neutrons are particles with no charge and higher mass. They are represented by n. They reside inside the nucleus of the atom and along with protons they are called nucleons. Let’s learn about neutrons in detail in this article.
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