When were the neutrons discovered?

Neutrons were discovered in the year 1932, and they were discovered by Sir James Chadwick, who is an English physicist. Before this time, a lot of people are already aware that there are protons that are located near the nucleus of the atom, but Sir James Chadwick declared that there are also particles that can be found near the center of the nucleus that does not come with any charge.

That is the time when he called the uncharged particles as neutrons. In order to prove that neutrons exist, he measured the mass of the atom. Take note that this was hard to do, especially at that time when this could not be directly weighed.

In 1932 James Chadwick used scattering data to calculate the mass of this neutral particle, which was the discovery of the Neutron. This discovery was a phenomenal move for science as they were able to get clearer understanting of the most minute particles of nature.


But the fact remains that science is constantly evolving and that the final word on any of these matters have not been reached. Yet as scientists continue their research on the atom and their intricacies, our understanding continues to improve. The idea is that through a better understanding of the atom and its functions, we will be better able to understand the world we live in.

Neutrons were discovered in 1932 by James Chadwick when he was using scattering data to calculate its mass. Since neutrons are neutral in charge, they were more difficult to locate in an atom unlike the proton (positive) and electron (negative) that have charges.

The use of electromagnetic fields was done but neutrons are charge-less, it was a challenge in identifying them. Isolating them from electrons and protons was also difficult as they decay fast. Ernest Rutherford that an uncharged particle is present in an atom that has the same weight of a proton. Chadwick was assigned to gain evidence of Rutherford’s discovery of the bound proton-electron pair, and he succeeded in confirming the existence of the neutron.