{"id":331,"date":"2023-06-21T12:51:31","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T12:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/concordant-thought.com\/?p=331"},"modified":"2023-06-22T09:36:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T09:36:14","slug":"who-discovered-the-proton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/concordant-thought.com\/who-discovered-the-proton\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Discovered the Proton?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We explain what protons are, how they were discovered, their properties, and characteristics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Proton?<\/span><\/h2>\n

The proton is a type of subatomic particle, that is, one of the minimum particles that make up the atom. It belongs to the fermion family and is endowed with a positive electric charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

All matter is made of atoms, and these in turn of three types of particles, endowed with different electrical charges: electrons (negative charge), neutrons (neutral charge) and protons (positive charge).<\/span><\/p>\n

For a long time it was thought that the\u00a0proton<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0was a fundamental type of particle, that is, that it could not be divided. However, today there is solid evidence to suggest that it is made up of quarks.<\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, the proton is a stable subatomic particle, a counterpart of the electron. Unlike the latter, which orbits around the nucleus of the atom, protons are contained in the atomic nucleus together with neutrons, contributing most of the atomic mass.<\/span><\/p>\n

Proton Discovery & Charge?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The\u00a0proton was discovered by the British chemist and physicist Ernest Rutherford<\/strong>\u00a0(1871-1937). After experimenting with nitrogen gas and detecting signs of what appeared to be hydrogen nuclei, Rutherford concluded that those nuclei were probably elemental particles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although this idea was true for a good part of the 20th century, from the 1970s scientific evidence showed that the proton was made up of other smaller particles called hadrons and mesons, which are, in fact, the truly elementary particles. since, until now, there is no evidence that they can be further divided or that they contain other structures inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

Decades before Rutherford\u2019s discovery, the German physicist Eugene Goldstein had proposed the idea of \u200b\u200bthe existence of protons. However, his ideas were not taken into account.<\/span><\/p>\n

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