Ted Best, ago 14, of Victoria, B.0., for his question:
What is a neutron?
Imagine a little square box one inch long, one inch wide and one inch high. Fill the box with solid iron and you have one cubic inch of iron. This iron like everything else is composed of atoms. The number of atoms in this small cube is estimated to be ten to the power of 24 ‑ which in figures is one followed by 24 zeros. What’s mores there is plenty of space between these bitsy atoms.
These figures may help your mind to grasp the smallness of atoms. If we could arrange atoms in a row we would need about 100 million of them to measure one inch. An atom is smaller than the wavelengths of light end for this reason we cannot see or photograph them even through the most powerful microscope.
We can only study them in bulk and on the basis of how they behave. Amazing as it may seem, science tells us that the tiny atom itself is made of even smaller particles. One of these atomic particles is the neutron. It was discovered after two other particles., the electron aid the proton, had been discovered. These two‑gave the scientists a good idea of the structure of an atom, how it; is put together.
The atom hues bean compared to a miniature solar system. Its central sun is the nucleus, a tight wad charged with positive electricity. Some of the particles in the nucleus are protons, small units of positive electricity. Around the nucleus circle the electrons, very much as the planets orbit around the sun. Each electron is a small unit of negative electricity. Each normal atom has an equal number of protons and electrons. For this reason a normal atom is balanced and electrically neutral.
Small as they are these tiny particles have mass or weight. A proton has 1845 times more mass than an electron. The bulk of an atom, then, is in the nucleus. Evan so, delicate measurements suggested that there were still other particles within the nucleus.
These extra particles added weight to the atom. But they had no extra charge to upset the electrical balance between the equal number of protons and electrons.
This hidden particle finally was discovered. Its mass was found to be about equal to one proton ‑ 1845 times greater than the mass of an electron. Like the proton and electron it was an electric particle. But it gave a charge of neither positive nor negative electricity. Like the total atom, this particle was electrically neutral. For this reason it was named the neutron. Some experts have suggested that the neutron is a combination of one proton and one electron.
Neutrons are present in the nucleus of almost every atom. Usually there are an equal number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus.