The Neutron

Despite the discoveries of the electron and proton decades before and the development of the
Rutherford model of the atom, there were still phenomena unexplained by it. Radioactively
discovered by Henry Becquerel1 and alpha/beta particles discovered by Rutherford was not
explained by his model. Isotopes were also unexplained. It was clear that there were some gaps
in the Rutherford model of the atom.

Rutherford had predicted the possible existence of neutral particles with the same mass of a
proton in the atom2 however credit for the discovery of the neutron goes to British physicist
James Chadwick. It was discovered that when a beryllium sheet was bombarded alpha particles
emitted from a plutonium source, it emitted significant amounts of radiation as seen in Figure 1.

Ini tiall
y this
Figure 1, Credit: Libre Texts

was thought to have been gamma radiation due to the

fact that it had a high penetration and were not deflected
by a magnetic field. However, unlike gamma rays they did
not emit charged electroscopes or light as seen in Figure
2. Frederic and Irene Curie also discovered that the
radiation emitted knocked loose hydrogen nuclei
(protons) from a sheet paraffin wax. The protons were
then detected by a Geiger counter. Irene initially
proposed that the particles were high energy gamma
Figure 2, Credit: ABC Science
photons, but Chadwick disproved this by explaining that
photons had no mass and could not knock heavy particles such as protons. 3

Chadwick worked out the velocity of these protons and using conservation of momentum
techniques and mathematics he was able to work out the mass of the neutral particle. He also
said it had the same mass as a proton. He then proposed that this was Rutherford’s
aforementioned neutron.

1
The Discovery of Radioactivity. 2020. The Discovery of Radioactivity. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://www2.lbl.gov/abc/wallchart/chapters/03/4.html. [Accessed 07 September 2020].
2
Chemistry LibreTexts. 2020. 2: Discovery of the Neutron (1932) - Chemistry LibreTexts. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Ancillary_Materials/Exemplars_and_Case_Studies/Case_Studies/Nucl
ear_Energy_for_Today's_World/02._Discovery_of_the_Neutron_(1932). [Accessed 07 September 2020].
3
This Month in Physics History. 2020. This Month in Physics History. [ONLINE] Available at:
https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200705/physicshistory.cfm. [Accessed 07 September 2020].