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Atomic Structure

Chadwick, the neutron, and comparing the models

  • 3 things to know
  • Physics Paper 1

Overview

Chadwick's evidence for the neutron, where it sits and why it was hard to detect, what the scattering results forced, and how the plum pudding and nuclear models differ.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Where in the atom did Chadwick's work show neutrons to be?

Key term

Compare the charge and the mass of a neutron with those of a proton.

Key term

Which of the two early models describes the atom as being mostly empty space?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Whose experimental work provided the evidence for the existence of the neutron?

    Model answer

    James Chadwick.

  2. 2

    Where in the atom did Chadwick's work show neutrons to be?

    Model answer

    Inside the nucleus.

  3. 3

    Roughly how long after the nucleus became an accepted idea was the neutron shown to exist?

    Model answer

    About 20 years later.

  4. 4

    Which of the three subatomic particles was the last to be discovered?

    Model answer

    The neutron.

  5. 5

    Compare the charge and the mass of a neutron with those of a proton.

    Model answer

    A neutron carries no charge while a proton is positively charged, but the two particles have almost the same mass.

  6. 6

    Suggest why the neutron was harder to detect than the proton or the electron.

    Model answer

    It carries no electrical charge, so it is not deflected by electric or magnetic fields and does not ionise material as it passes.

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