neutron

[ noo-tron, nyoo- ]

noun

, Physics.

1. an elementary particle having no charge, mass slightly greater than that of a proton, and spin of ½: a constituent of the nuclei of all atoms except those of hydrogen. : n

neutron

/ ˈnjuːtrɒn /

noun

1. physics a neutral elementary particle with a rest mass of 1.674 92716 × 10 ^–27kilogram and spin 1 2 ; classified as a baryon. In the nucleus of an atom it is stable, but when free it decays

neutron

/ no̅o̅′trŏn′ /

1. An electrically neutral subatomic particle in the baryon family, having a mass of 1.674 × 10 ^-24 grams (1,838 times that of the electron and slightly greater than that of the proton). Neutrons are part of the nucleus of all atoms, except hydrogen, and have a mean lifetime of approximately 1.0×10 ³ seconds as free particles. They consist of a triplet of quarks, including two down quarks and one up quark, bound together by gluons. In radioactive atoms, excess neutrons are converted to protons by beta decay. Beams of neutrons from nuclear reactors are used to bombard the atoms of various elements to produce fission and other nuclear reactions and to determine the atomic arrangements in molecules.
2. See Table at subatomic particle

neutron

1. An elementary particle without an electrical charge ; one of the building blocks of the nucleus of the atom . A neutron has about the same mass as a proton .

Word History and Origins

Origin of neutron¹

First recorded in 1920–25; neutr(o)- + -on ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of neutron¹

C20: from neutral , on the model of electron

Example Sentences

When stars collapse, they can leave behind incredibly dense but relatively small and cold remnants called neutron stars.

From Science Daily

If two stars collapse in close proximity, the leftover binary neutron stars spiral in and eventually collide, and the interface where the two stars begin merging becomes incredibly hot.

From Science Daily

"For the first time in 2017, we observed here on Earth signals of various kinds, including gravitational waves, from a binary neutron star merger," said Pedro Luis Espino, a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State and the University of California, Berkeley, who led the research.

From Science Daily

"This led to a huge surge of interest in binary neutron star astrophysics. There is no way to reproduce these events in a lab to study them experimentally, so the best window we have into understanding what happens during a binary neutron star merger is through simulations based on math that arises from Einstein's theory of general relativity."

From Science Daily

Neutron stars get their name because they are thought to be composed almost entirely out of neutrons, the uncharged particles that, along with positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons, make up atoms.

From Science Daily