SCIENTISTS BEHIND THE ATOM

The Neutron: It's... well... neutral.

Information on the proton, electron and Rutherford dude

Today here on "The Amazing Chemistry talk show that nobody listens to" we have two very special guests. One is the neutron, the particle. We managed to track one down and it agreed to be interviewed. We also have Sir James Chadwick, the man who discovered the neutron. Let's go to the neutron first.

Q: First of all, why don't you share your background with our viewers/readers/listeners or whatever.

Neutron: Alright man, no problem. I've been around as long as the proton and electron, but nobody knew about me until later. Those two always got all the publicity, know what I'm saying? Just because they were charged and they stood out a bunch, everyone thought they were something special. I couldn't stand it, I mean I definitely have as much talent as they do. I hold the nucleus together, man, if I had just got up and left they would have been so screwed. Anyway though, finally in 1932 my buddy James Chadwick discovered me. Some crazy French people would have discovered me first, but they couldn't figure it out right or something. I don't really understand it but Chadwick can tell you all about it. He won some sort of big prize for it, but I don't really care about that.

Q: Okay, so what are your important facts?

Neutron: I have an atomic mass of 1. Actually, my atomic mass is really a proton (1) and an electron added together, but since most people say an electron has virtually no mass they just call my mass 1. I'm the biggest particle, and I'm neutral. I have no charge so I don't go all crazy when some charged thing comes up to me. Like when a proton sees another proton it freaks out and runs away, but if you show it an electron it gets all over it and goes nuts. On the other hand, I'm level-headed, you know what I'm saying? I don't have these crazy mood swings, man. And that's another problem I've got. Since I have no charge, people don't like experimenting with me. I'm sick and tired of the proton and the electron being so popular with all the researchers, just because they do crazy stuff since they're charged.

Q: Anything else about yourself?

Neutron: Actually, yeah. I'm sort of proud that I'm one of the deadliest forms of radioactivity, and I can start nuclear chain reactions. When protons get near a nucleus, they freak out, because like I said before they run away and crazy stuff. On the other hand since I have no charge I can break apart the nucleus which releases tons of energy and lots of more neutrons. Then there's a whole big chain reaction and that's how nuclear bombs and power plants work. All my doing. Cool, huh?

Q: Back to your radioactivity... I'm sort of interested in that.

Neutron: Well, being one of the most potent forms of radioactivity is a big bonus. Neutrons like me are so dangerous because we move faster and aren't as clumsy as those fat and slow alpha particles, and we're more massive than either beta particles or gamma rays. This means we aren't as easily stopped but when we hit something we do quite a bit of damage. The US military designed a bomb that was supposed to emit lots of us but not the huge destructive wave of energy that a normal nuke gives off. The neutron bomb is designed to kill people without too much "mess" since there isn't all the heat and light and alpha- beta- and gamma- radiation and emitters, but I think it's sort of gone out of fashion. Well, at least I had a bomb named after me. That's more than the electron or proton can say for itself.

We'd like to thank the neutron for appearing on our show today. Next up is Sir James Chadwick who will tell us about his discovery of the neutron back in 1932. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Sir James.

James: Well, actually it wasn't too much trouble, since I'm dead. I've been dead since 1970, didn't you know.

Q: If you're dead, how come you can talk to us?

James: Don't worry about that too much, m'boy, just be glad you got this exclusive interview, which really isn't that exclusive at all. Next question.

Q: Okay, you're mostly famous for discovering the neutron, who we talked to earlier. How exactly did you discover it?

James: Well, if you want to read my full paper, it's available here. [requires Adobe Acrobat Reader]

Q: Sir James, I don't believe we have time to read your whole paper right now, so could you summarize it for us?

James: The experiment I conducted is shown in the diagram below

Essentially, the Polonium released alpha particles which struck the Beryllium in the paraffin. To my surprise, protons were ejected from the paraffin. I wondered what could be causing something as heavy as a proton to be ejected from the paraffin. After examining my data, it became clear that it was a particle of about the same mass as a proton, and i twas safe to assume that it had no charge at all, since it could easily penetrate the nucleus without being repelled. I subsequently wrote my paper and submitted it to the journal Nature. It was published and I won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1935.

Q: The neutron mentioned something about "crazy French people" when we interviewed it. Can you explain?

James: Right-o. Well, my experiment was a replication of an earlier experiment by the husband-and-wife team the Joliot-Curies. They got the same results, but incorrectly interpreted it as being the action of gamma rays on the paraffin that ejected the protons. Since gamma rays have much less inertia than protons in a nucleus, my colleague Rutherford and I found it highly implausible that this would be the case. He suggested I replicate the experiment which I did.

We'd like to thank Sir James Chadwick for coming back from the dead to speak with us. Please tune in later (several months) for the next excititing installment of The Amazing Chemistry talk show that nobody listens to when we discuss an important chemist! And please read the other sites about the proton, electron and that crazy Rutherford dude.