Summary:
- Neutrons can be used in a variety of ways.
- One important use is in nuclear fission to produce new isotopes.
- A neutron will collide with a large atom and cause it to split into smaller atoms.
- Nuclear reactors utilize chain reactions involving neutrons to heat water which drive turbines for the generation of electricity.
- In 1930, German researchers bombarded the element beryllium with alpha particles.
- This produced large, neutral particles.
- James Chadwick determined the neutron's mass and won the Nobel Prize in Physics.