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neutron
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Because it is electrically neutral, the neutron must be bound into the atomic nucleus by a powerful force that does not depend on electric charge; this is the so-called strong force (or strong nuclear force). In a free state the neutron is unstable with a half-life of about 12 minutes, decaying into a proton, an electron, and an anti-neutrino:
This slow decay of the neutron is indicative of yet another nuclear force, called the weak force.
Despite being electrically neutral, the neutron does have both an electric dipole moment (as if it were made of a positive and a negative electric charge separated by a minute distance) and a magnetic moment, both of which are indicative of some internal electrical structure. Indeed, it is now known that the neutron (like the proton and other baryons) is composed of one up quark and two down quarks.
Discovery of the neutron
In 1930, Bothe and Becker discovered that when beryllium is bombarded with alpha particles, it emits a very penetrating radiation. They assumed that it must be akin to gamma rays as, like them, it could pass through several inches of lead. Irene Curie and F. Joliot showed that these beryllium rays could knock particles out of paraffin wax with extraordinary force.
The particles proved to be protons moving with very high energy. A simple calculation showed that if the beryllium radiation had caused the acceleration, then its energy must be about 50 million electron-volts, which then appeared as an enormous energy.
The publication of this remarkable research attracted the attention of James Chadwick, a colleague of Ernest Rutherford. Rutherford had long before visualized the existence of a neutral particle, which (in 1921) he called the neutron, and more than a decade before had forecast its main properties. Chadwick had assisted Rutherford in attempts to discover the neutron, but they had not been successful. Chadwick saw that the discovery of the Joliot-Curies could be explained if the beryllium radiation consisted, not of wave-radiations, but of neutral particles. He quickly performed the confirmatory experiments, and announced the discovery of the neutron; a neutral particle slightly heavier than the positively-charged proton.
The neutron was the fourth of the fundamental particles to be discovered. Its discovery gave tremendous impetus both to experimental and theoretical research. A few weeks later in 1932, J. D. Cockcroft and E. T. S. Walton announced the first successful disintegration of atoms by machinery. They accelerated protons to a sufficient energy to disintegrate atoms of lithium. This was the beginning of the controlled entry into the nucleus of the atom.
Related categories
• ATOMIC AND NUCLEAR PHYSICS
• PARTICLE PHYSICS
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