Who discovered Neutrons? How was the discovery made?
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Solution
Sir James Chadwick discovered neutrons.
He performed an experiment involving the bombardment of the Beryllium nucleus with alpha particles.
James Chadwick fired alpha radiation at a beryllium sheet from a polonium source. This led to the production of uncharged, penetrating radiation.
This radiation was made incident on paraffin wax, a hydrocarbon having a relatively high hydrogen content.
The protons ejected from the paraffin wax (when struck by the uncharged radiation) were observed with the help of an ionization chamber.
The range of the liberated protons was measured and the interaction between the uncharged radiation and the atoms of several gases was studied by Chadwick.
He concluded that the unusually penetrating radiation consisted of uncharged particles having (approximately) the same mass as a proton. These particles were later termed ‘neutrons’.
