Articles by others on the same topic
The neutron is the electrically neutral spin-one-half baryon found with protons in most atomic nuclei.
A neutron is a nucleon: it contributes to an atomic nucleus without adding electric charge. Its spin one-half makes it a fermion, and it belongs to the baryons. Electrical neutrality does not mean an absence of interactions: a neutron can transfer momentum and kinetic energy to an atomic nucleus, producing a charged nuclear recoil that a particle detector can register. This indirect route is central to neutron detection by proton recoil.
The beautiful feature of the Chadwick neutron discovery experiment is that an unseen projectile acquired a measurable mass through the motion of things it struck. Penetration alone left competing explanations open; combining nuclear recoils from different target masses supplied a much stronger test.
Neutron can refer to a couple of different concepts, depending on the context: 1. **In Physics**: A neutron is a subatomic particle found in the nucleus of an atom. It has no electric charge (it is neutral) and has a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Neutrons, along with protons (which are positively charged), make up the atomic nucleus, contributing to the mass of an atom and playing a critical role in nuclear reactions and stability.