In the world of nuclear physics, protons often take the spotlight. But now, for the first time, the neutron has stepped into it. A recent experiment using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Jefferson Lab ...

The picture shows a close-up of one carbon atom. A hydrogen atom has one proton as the nucleus and one electron in the region outside the nucleus. The electron and proton are attracted to each other.

In 1932, another British physicist, James Chadwick, discovered the neutron, another particle located within the nucleus. With the electron, proton, and neutron, scientists thought they had found ...

The incoming neutron hitting the nucleus causes a proton to shoot out of the nucleus, just as a cue ball on a pool table ... emitting an electron (with a charge of -1) in the process.

When two hydrogen atoms get close enough, the electron from each atom feels an attraction from the proton in the other atom's nucleus. This attraction pulls the atoms together. The electrons end up ...

The emission of beta radiation provides evidence that neutrons and protons are made up of quarks. Beta (\(\beta^-\)) decay is the release of an electron by the change of a neutron to a proton.

Beta decay involves the conversion of a down quark to an up quark. This changes a neutron into a proton plus an electron. The proton stays in the nucleus and the electron leaves the atom with high ...

For the first time, scientists have successfully mapped the shape of an electron while it moves ... Inside an atom, it works ...