Neutron
hideThe neutron is a subatomic particle with no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton.
Neutrons are usually found in atomic nuclei. The nuclei of most atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of protons in a nucleus is the atomic number and defines the type of element the atom forms. The number of neutrons determines the isotope of an element. For example, the carbon-12 isotope has 6 protons and 6 neutrons, while the carbon-14 isotope has 6 protons and 8 neutrons.
While bound neutrons in stable nuclei are stable, free neutrons are unstable; they undergo beta decay with a lifetime of just under 15 minutes (885.7 ± 0.8 s). Free neutrons are produced in nuclear fission and fusion. Dedicated neutron sources like research reactors and spallation sources produce free neutrons for the use in irradiation and in neutron scattering experiments.
Even though it is not a chemical element, the free neutron is sometimes included in tables of nuclides. It is then considered to have an atomic number of zero and a mass number of one.
For more information about Neutron, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with neutron
Magnetic monopoles detected in a real magnet for the first time
Sep 03, 2009 |
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Researchers from the Helmholtz Centre Berlin, in cooperation with colleagues from Dresden, St. Andrews, La Plata and Oxford, have for the first time observed magnetic monopoles and how they emerge in a real ...
Star crust 10 billion times stronger than steel, physicists find
May 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Research by a theoretical physicist at Indiana University shows that the crusts of neutron stars are 10 billion times stronger than steel or any other of the earth's strongest metal alloys.
Not a Quirk But a Quark ... a Quark Star!
Jun 27, 2008 |
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Astronomers recently announced that they have found a novel explanation for a rare type of super-luminous stellar explosion that may have produced a new type of object known as a quark star.
Nuclear fusion-fission hybrid could contribute to carbon-free energy future
Jan 27, 2009 |
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Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have designed a new system that, when fully developed, would use fusion to eliminate most of the transuranic waste produced by nuclear power plants.
'Cold fusion' rebirth? New evidence for existence of controversial energy source
Mar 23, 2009 |
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Researchers are reporting compelling new scientific evidence for the existence of low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR), the process once called "cold fusion" that may promise a new source of energy. One group ...
Puzzled Physicists Solve Decade-Long Discrepancies
Oct 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team led by physicists at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have resolved a decade-long puzzle that is set to have huge implications ...
Ytterbium's broken symmetry: The largest parity violations ever measured in an atom
Jul 22, 2009 |
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Ytterbium was discovered in 1878, but until it recently became useful in atomic clocks, the soft metal rarely made the news. Now ytterbium has a new claim to scientific fame. Measurements with ytterbium-174, ...
Quantum goes massive
Jul 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- An astrophysics experiment in America has demonstrated how fundamental research in one subject area can have a profound effect on work in another as the instruments used for the Laser Interferometer ...
Advanced nuclear fuel sets global performance record
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Idaho National Laboratory scientists have set a new world record with next-generation particle fuel for use in high temperature gas reactors (HTGRs).
High-School Student Discovers Strange Astronomical Object
Sep 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A West Virginia high-school student analyzing data from a giant radio telescope has discovered a new astronomical object -- a strange type of neutron star called a rotating radio transient.
Two Earth-sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres found -- but they're stars not planets
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Astrophysicists at the University of Warwick and Kiel University have discovered two earth sized bodies with oxygen rich atmospheres - however there is a bit of a disappointing snag for anyone ...
Carbon Atmosphere Discovered on Neutron Star
Nov 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Evidence for a thin veil of carbon has been found on the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. This discovery, made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, resolves a ten-year ...
First gamma-ray-only pulsar observation opens new window on stellar evolution
Oct 16, 2008 |
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About three times a second, a 10,000-year-old stellar corpse sweeps a beam of gamma-rays toward Earth. This object, known as a pulsar, is the first one known to "blink" only in gamma rays, and was discovered ...
For the First Time, Scientists Measure the Size of a One-Neutron Halo with Lasers
Feb 20, 2009 |
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Atomic nuclei are normally compact structures defined by a sharp border. About twenty-five years ago, it was discovered at the University of California in Berkeley that there are exceptions to this picture: ...
The cosmos is green: Researchers catch nature in the act of 'recycling' a star (w/Animations)
May 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, researchers have observed a singular cosmic act of rebirth: the transformation of an ordinary, slow-rotating pulsar into a superfast millisecond pulsar with an almost infinitely ...
