Word: protons
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When a smallest thing is discovered it must be observed more than once to be believed. In February, Cambridge University's Dr. James Chadwick proclaimed the existence of the neutron, new smallest thing (TIME, March 7). With the proton (positive electricity), electron (negative electricity) and photon (light particle), this made four smallest things. But the neutron is elusive, hard to find. It contains no detectable electric charge. It leaves no marks in the form of ionized or electrified particles when it passes through a gas. Having no charge, it is not repelled by charged atoms. Hence...
...proton, which is 1,845 times as heavy as an electron, might make an electron its satellite. Such a simple system of one electron revolving around one proton makes up a common atom of hydrogen, simplest of the 92 elements. (Helium, next simplest, has an alpha particle for its core, two electrons for satellites. Other atoms have more protons, more electrons...
...another possible arrangement, the electrically positive proton might join with the negative electron. Generally, physicists believe, the two cancel each other. Their energy disappears. But last week Dr. Chadwick thought, "not always." The proton and electron in such case may join together like the knobs of a dumbbell...
That is the neutron. It lacks electrical characteristics. The charges of proton and electron have bound and balanced each other. A particle has been formed halfway between nascent electricity and atomic hydrogen. It hops out of radioactive substances as do alpha particles...
According to the new theory, the neutron is a close combination of the more familiar parts of atomic structure, the election and the proton. These bear charges of electricity, the former a negative one and the latter a positive. The neutron, being a combination, is thus a neutral cross between both. For this reason, it has been considered very difficult for physicists to prove its existence, since neutrons would pass through ordinary matter without having any magnetic or electrical effects. The gravitational effect of neutrons passing close to some atomic heart or nucleus has been a theoretical possibility...