The proton was discovered in May of 1918 by Ernest Rutherford. Many scientists including Chadwick, and Thompson helped with the discovery but Rutherford was credited with the discovery because he was the first to actually prove the existence on the protons (2). He proved this by shooting alpha particles into different gasses (2).
What is a proton?
· A stable particle with a positive charge. The charge is equal to the negative charge of an electron (3)
· A proton can be surrounded by a nuclear force and transformed to atomic nuclei (4)
· A subatomic particle located in a atom’s nucleus (1)
· Every atomic nucleus contains one or more protons (1)
· Combined protons and neutrons are known as nucleons (1)
Who is Ernest Rutherford?
· 1871-1937 (5)
· One of twelve children (5)
· Family was originally from New Zealand but later he moved to the UK (5)
· Known as the “Father of Nuclear Physics” because of his discovery of the proton (5)
· Was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 for his “investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances" (6)
The Experiments:
· Rutherford shot alpha particles into nitrogen gas and noticed that scintillation, which is light (8), detectors showed signs of hydrogen nuclei (4).
· Because of this experiment he came to the decision that hydrogen could only come from nitrogen, and also that hydrogen must consist of hydrogen nuclei (4).
· He named the hydrogen nuclei that he found proton, because the hydrogen nucleus had the atomic number one and “proton” means first in Greek (4).
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| (7) |
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| Equation that shows the nuclear reaction (7) |
· Rutherford also shot alpha particles at neon, when he shot the particles he was able to detect hydrogen (h+) and because he shot those particles at neon and created another element (he found hydrogen) he reasoned that hydrogen must be a basic particle (like a building block) of all atoms
(2).
· Protons are the building blocks of all atoms (2)
· The alpha particles are known today as helium nuclei (2)
Importance:
The discovery provided a greater understanding of molecules and how they work (1)
the number of protons in the nucleus help determine which chemical element the atom is(1)
Works Cited:
1. http://www.ehow.com/facts_5183474_discovery-proton-neutron.html
2. http://www.ehow.com/facts_5183474_discovery-proton-neutron.html
3. wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
4. http://www.everydayguide.com/who-discovered-the-proton/
5. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bpruth.html
6. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1908/
7. http://library.thinkquest.org/27954/proton.html
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintillator
