The Discovery of Neutron

The Discovery of Neutron:

If the energetic alpha-particles emitted from Polonium fell on the light elements like berrylium,boron or lithium,a neutral radiation( radiation made of uncharged particles) was produced.

Scientists thought that this new radiation could be gamma radiation but it was more powerfully penetrating than all known gamma radiations. When this radiation was passed through paraffin wax it ejected protons of very high energy (~5MeV). This observation was not in itself inconsistent with the assumed gramma ray nature of the new radiation but that interpretation of Compton scattering had a logical problem. From the energy and momentum conservation ,a gamma radiation would have to have impossibly very high energy to scatter high energy massive protons.

Ettor Majorana declared that the manner in which the radiation interacted with protons required to be a new neutral particle.

After hearing about these results, Chadwick performed a series of experiments showing that the gamma radiation hypothesis (assumed new radiation) was untenable (unacceptable).

After several similar experiments Chadwick repeated the creation of the relation using beryllium to absorb the alpha-particles.

He aimed the radiation at paraffin wax, the radiation energetically scattered some of the protons.

Chadwick measured the range of these protons and also measured how the new radiation impacted the atoms of various gases. He found that the new radiation consisted not of gamma rays but of the unchanged particles of about the mass of the protons. These newly discovered particles were named, "Neutron".

He won the Nobel prize 🏆 in 1935 for this discovery.

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