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The Discovery of The Neutron

James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932. He proved the existence of neutrons, which are elementary particles lacking electrical charge. This discovery revolutionized the understanding of atomic structure and provided validity to Rutherford's atomic model by explaining its stability. The existence of neutrons accounted for more of the mass of atoms and allowed the known atomic mass to match the total mass of its protons and neutrons. Chadwick's discovery of the neutron changed scientists' views of atoms and paved the way for understanding nuclear fission and the possibility of nuclear weapons.

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Maxine Garra
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197 views4 pages

The Discovery of The Neutron

James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932. He proved the existence of neutrons, which are elementary particles lacking electrical charge. This discovery revolutionized the understanding of atomic structure and provided validity to Rutherford's atomic model by explaining its stability. The existence of neutrons accounted for more of the mass of atoms and allowed the known atomic mass to match the total mass of its protons and neutrons. Chadwick's discovery of the neutron changed scientists' views of atoms and paved the way for understanding nuclear fission and the possibility of nuclear weapons.

Uploaded by

Maxine Garra
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Name: James Chadwick

Background: James Chadwick was born in Bollington, Cheshire, England on


October 20th, 1891, the son of John Joseph Chadwick and Anne Mary Knowles.

- James moved to Manchester and attended two schools, Bollington Cross C


of E Primary School and the Central Grammar School for Boys.
- After graduating from these high schools, he attended the universities of
Manchester and Cambridge.
- Chadwick then enrolled at Berlin Technical University in 1913.
- When World War I started, James was interned in Ruhleben.
- While there, he worked under Charles D. Ellis (who later discovered the
neutrino) and Ernest Rutherford in their horse stable chemistry lab.
- After the war, James accepted a studentship at Gonville and Caius College
working at the Cavendish laboratory.
- He was elected Fellow of his school and became assistant director of
research at Physical Lab in Manchester, working under Rutherford.
- Rutherford was conducting the first experiments of transmutation,
converting one element into another by radiation bombardment and James
was his assistant then.
- In Cambridge, Chadwick joined Rutherford in accomplishing the
transmutation of other light elements by bombardment with alpha
particles, and in making studies of the properties and structure of atomic
nuclei.

Contributions: In 1932, Chadwick made a fundamental discovery in the domain


of nuclear science: he proved the existence of neutrons- elementary particles
lacking of any electrical charge.

- In this way he prepared the way towards the fission of Uranium- 235 and
towards the creation of the atomic bomb
- Chadwick noted that because the neutrons had no charge, they penetrated
much further into a target than protons would.
- Had many papers published on the topics of radioactivity and connected
problems and, with Professor Rutherford and Charles D. Ellis, he is co-
author of the book “Radiations from Radioactive substances” (1930)

February 1932 – he published “The Possible Existence of a Neutron” in which he


proposed that the evidence favored the neutron rather than the gamma ray
photons as the correct interpretation of the mysterious radiation (based on Joliot-
Curie’s belief).

May 1932 – he submitted the more definite paper titled “The Existence of
Neutron”.

- The discovery of neutron quickly changed scientists’ view of the atom


- Due to the discovery of neutron, scientists realized that hitting Uranium
with neutrons will result in the fission of the Uranium nucleus and the
release of incredible amounts of energy, making possible nuclear weapons.

Neutron- found to have the same mass as protons which accounted for
more of the mass of the atom and allowed the masses (the known mass of an
atom and the known mass of its particles) to match.

MODIFIED ATOMIC THEORY

The existence and discovery of neutrons revolutionized the understanding of the


atomic structure. It provided the validity of Rutherford’s atomic model and
explained its stability. The postulates added to the atomic theory were:

- The nucleus of an atom consists of subatomic particles called nucleons.


- These nucleons are of two types: protons and neutrons.
- The neutrons are neutrally charged particles with the mass equal to that of
a proton.
- A neutron is composed of an electron and proton couple.
- The collective mass of the protons and neutrons provided the atomic mass
of an element.

SUBMITTED BY:
Justin Victor Haja
Dan Lorenz Olbes
Maxine Garra

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