Answers to AQA GCSE Discovering the Proton and Neutron

Practice Questions

1.Describe how the idea of protons came about

Ernest Rutherford discovered the proton. After carrying out alpha bombardment experiments he came up with the idea that the postive charge of the nucleus can be split up into a whole number of small particles, each particle is called a proton.

2.Describe how scientists knew that there were particles other than protons in the nucleus?

Hydrogen nucleus has 1 unit of mass and a +1 charge for 1 proton. Any other nucleus always has a much bigger mass compared to its positive charge. This means that another particle is present that does not have charge, but does has mass.

3. Which famous Scientist discovered the neutron?

James Chadwick