Discovery of the nucleus

Dalton (John Dalton 1766–1844 an English chemist, physicist, and meteorologist) 1803:
elements are made up of indivisible small particles (atoms).

Until the end of the 19. century: atoms are indivisible.

Cathode rays:

Cathode rays are so named because they are emitted by the negative
electrode (cathode) in a vacuum tube. In the early experimental cold cathode
vacuum tubes in which cathode rays were discovered - called Crookes tubes -
a high electrical potential of thousands of volts between the anode and the
cathode was used to produce these rays.

Cathode rays are invisible, but their presence was first detected in these
Crookes tubes when they struck the glass wall of the tube, causing the glass
to emit light, a glow called fluorescence or phosphorescence: the emission of
light of one color following a body's exposure to light of another color.

Later on heated cathodes were used.

Investigation of cathode ray tube: Thomson (Sir Joseph John Thomson 1856 –1940 a
British physicist) 1897

He studied the interaction of radiation from a heated cathode with an electric

and magnetic field. His experiments suggested that cathode rays were a
thousand times times lighter than the hydrogen atom, and their mass was the
same in whichever type of atom they came from. He concluded that the rays
were composed of very light, negatively charged particles which were a
universal building block of atoms.

He called the particles "corpuscles", but later scientists preferred the name
electron (which had been suggested by George Johnstone Stoney in 1891,
prior to Thomson's actual discovery, introducing the term electron as the
"fundamental unit quantity of electricity").

Electrons are constituents of matter, so the atom is not indivisible.

Electrons are involved in the structure of every atom.
Thomson was awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics for his
work on the conduction of electricity in gases.
In early 1896 Röntgen (Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen March 1845–1923 a German mechanical
engineer and physicist) published his first article on discovery of X-rays. He
„found that the Crookes tubes he had been using to study cathode rays
emitted a new kind of invisible ray that was capable of penetrating
through black paper”.
So cathode rays can produce X-rays in phosphorescent glass.

Röntgen for the X-rays earned the first Nobel Prize in Physics
in 1901.

Becquerel (Antoine Henri Becquerel 1852–1908 a French engineer, physicist) had long
been interested in phosphorescence. He began looking for a connection
between the phosphorescence and the newly discovered X-rays of
Röntgen. He thought that phosphorescent materials, such as some
uranium salts, might emit penetrating X-ray-like radiation when
illuminated by bright sunlight.
Discovery of radioactivity 1896.

"at the end of February 1896 Becquerel prepared and double-wrapped a

photo plate, pressed the paper with a copper cross, placed the bowl
containing the uranium salt crystals on top, then put it all in the cupboard
and waited for the sunny time, but it just didn’t want to come. As a kind of
boredom, he developed the "blank" photo plate and noticed with great
shock that the cross was clearly drawn on it. It quickly became clear that
the new kind of radiation, which was shielded by the metal cross and not
by the paper, had nothing to do with phosphorescence, as the radiation
came from uranium without prior illumination. ”
In 1896 Becquerel in the journal “Comptes Rendus”:
„…no one has yet been able to figure out exactly where this energy comes
from inside uranium, which this material radiates so steadily ”.

Becquerel 1898:
the radiation has a highly ionizing component that is already absorbed by a thin
layer of material (paper), has a range of a few cm in air, and another component
that is less ionizing, more permeable: alpha and beta radiations.
Becquerel 1900:
the electrical charge and mass of the beta particles are the same as those of the
particles of the cathode rays, and their velocity is close to that of light.
Villard (Paul Ulrich Villard 1860–1934 a French chemist and physicist) 1900:
radiation with a higher penetration than beta rays: gamma radiation.

Concerning the names: Rutherford (Ernest Rutherford, 1871–1937 a New Zealand–born

British physicist) who did many experiments studying the properties of
radioactive decay, proposed to call these rays alpha, beta, and gamma, and
classified them by their ability to penetrate matter.
Intensive research on radioactivity followed, including the determination
that the element thorium is also radioactive and the discovery of additional
radioactive elements polonium and radium by Marie and Pierre Curie (Marie
Skłodowska Curie 1867–1934 a Polish-French physicist and chemist, Pierre Curie 1859–1906 a French
physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity ).

In 1903, Becquerel shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre

Curie and Marie Curie for the discovery of spontaneous radioactivity.
The atom is neutral.

The structure of the positively charged part?

Thomson's atom model 1904.

„Plum pudding model” of the atom: the larger, positively charged
portion of the mass is evenly distributed in the atom and the electrons
of small mass move in it.
Rutherford – Geiger – Marsden (Johannes Wilhelm "Hans" Marsden 1882 –1945 a German
physicist, Sir Ernest Marsden 1889 –1970 an English-New Zealand physicist) 1909-1910:
Investigation of the angular distribution of α-particles scattered on a thin
gold foil: particles scattered at a large angle were also found.
(Rutherford 1909: alpha-particles are high-energy helium ions.)

Rutherford:
"It was quite the most incredible event that has happened to me in my life. It
was almost as incredible as if you had fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue
paper and it came back and hit you."

Geiger in his letter to Chadwick (Sir James Chadwick 1891–1974 a British physicist):
"One day, obviously in the best spirits, he came into my room and told me that he now
knew what the atom looked like and how the large deflections were to be understood.
On the very same day I began an experiment to test the relation expected between the
number of particles and the angle of scattering."
Thomson model:
Positive charge distributed
to a large volume

Rutherford model:
Positive charge concentrated
to a small volume
Rutherford 1911:
Assumption of a small-volume, + Ze-charged nucleus. Z pieces of electrons
move around this nucleus.

Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 "for his
investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of
radioactive substances„.
Perpendicular component of the current density of incoming particles 𝑗0 .
Of these, at an angle 𝜗, 𝜗 + 𝑑𝜗, into a solid angle 𝑑Ω = 2𝜋 sin 𝜗𝑑𝜗 the
number of deviated particles is d𝑛:
𝑗0 dσ = 𝑑𝑛 where 𝑑𝜎 is by definition the differential scattering cross
section.

Collision parameter: 𝑏 𝜗 , such a distance would pass the particle deviating

at an angle 𝜗 if there were no interaction.
Those arriving between 𝑏, 𝑏 + 𝑑𝑏 are scattered between 𝜗, 𝜗 + 𝑑𝜗, they
come through a ring with a surface of 2𝜋𝑏𝑑𝑏, the number of particles
arriving through it is 𝑑𝑛 = 2𝜋𝑏𝑑𝑏𝑗0 that is 𝑑𝜎 = 2𝜋𝑏𝑑𝑏 is the area of ​the
ring.
(Integrated according to 𝑏 we get the total cross section.)

https://www.geogebra.org/m/WWTfqm9q
#material/j0CwtorI
Rutherford's calculation for the α-scattering cross section:
2
𝑍𝑧𝑒 2 𝑑𝜃
𝑑𝜎 𝜗 =
2𝑚𝑣 2 𝑠𝑖𝑛4 𝜗
2
Experience: the angular distribution is indeed one that corresponds to a
(near) pointlike positive center of scatter.

Additional measurements by Rutherford, Geiger and Marsden:

In case of scattering in several layers of the gold foil the high-angle
backscattering may be the result of multiple scattering. The number of
deflected particles as a function of the film thickness differs in the case of
single and multiple scattering, the experiment confirmed the single
scattering.
 The structure of the atom
Experience:
atomic spectra are discrete
(they consist of lines)

Bohr (Niels H. D. Bohr 1885–1962 a Danish physicist), 1913:

Bohr's atomic model:
The energy of electrons is not continuous,
electrons can only be on stationary orbits
where the orbital angular momentum is given
by the relation

mvnrn = nħ n=1, 2, ... quantum numbers

For the orbit characterized by the quantum number 𝑛, the radius of the
2
𝑛2 ħ
orbit of the electron is 𝑟𝑛 =
𝑚 𝑍𝑒 2
, the energy of the electron is  
m Ze
En   2
2 2

n 2 2
Bohr made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure
and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in
1922.
 What does the nucleus consist of?

Aston (Francis William Aston 1877–1945 an English chemist and physicist) 1919:

Atomic masses are multiples of the mass of the hydrogen atom

𝑀 ≈ 𝐴 ∙ 𝑀𝐻 𝐴 integer, its name is atomic mass number

Aston won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discoveries by means
of his mass spectrograph.
Rutherford, Blackett (Patrick M. S. Blackett 1897–1974) a British experimental physicist) 1925:

the range of the 𝛼-particle was studied in air

→ a longer-range, less ionizing new particle was found

𝑀 = 𝑀𝐻 , charge= +1𝑒 → the nucleus of the hydrogen atom: „proton”

4𝐻𝑒
+ 14𝑁 → 17𝑂
+ 1𝐻 the first nuclear reaction

Blackett in 1948 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, for

his investigation of cosmic rays using his invention of the
counter-controlled cloud chamber.
Assumption: an atom with atomic number Z contains Z protons (+) in its
nucleus and Z electrons (-) around the nucleus, so the atom is neutral.

But for the 𝐴 atomic mass number of the nuclei: 𝐴 ≈2-2.5x𝑍.

So there is something else in the nucleus; what is that?

Bothe, Becker (Walther W. G.Bothe 1891–1957 a German nuclear physicist,
Richard Becker 1887–1955 a German theoretical physicist) 1930:

𝛼 + 𝐵𝑒 → high penetration radiation was detected

Bothe developed and applied coincidence methods to the

study of nuclear reactions for which he received the Nobel
Prize in Physics in 1954.

Irene and Frederic Jolie-Curie, Chadwick (Irène Joliot-Curie 1897–1956 a French chemist,
physicist, and a politician of Polish ancestry, the daughter of Marie Curie, Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie
1900–1958 a French physicist), 1932:
The properties of radiation were studied: neither electric nor magnetic
fields could divert it.
Electromagnetic?
Based on this assumption they studied the interaction between radiation
and matter using gases placed in the cloud chamber, from which the
recalculation of the energy of the radiation led to a contradiction.
Chadwick 1932.
The „radiation consists of electrically neutral particles of almost the same
mass as the proton has”:
𝑀 ≈ 𝑀𝐻 , neutral: “neutron”

4
2𝐻𝑒 + 49𝐵𝑒 = 12
6𝐶 + 10𝑛

Jointly with her husband, Irene Joliot-

Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery
of artificial radioactivity.

Chadwick was awarded the 1935

Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery
of the neutron.
Heisenberg, Ivanenko (Werner K. Heisenberg 1901–February 1976 a German theoretical
physicist, Dmitri Dmitrievich Ivanenko 1904–1994 a Soviet-Russian theoretical physicist),1932:

The nucleus consists of 𝑍 protons and 𝑁 neutrons, commonly called

"nucleons". 𝑍 is called the atomic number of the nucleus (element),𝐴 =
𝑍 + 𝑁 is the mass number.

Series name: Nuclide carte

Z = constant: N = N1, N2, ... "isotopes" horizontal

N = constant: Z = Z1, Z2, ... "isotones" vertical

A = constant: . „isobars" diagonal

Table or chart of nuclides
Heisenberg was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the
creation of quantum mechanics".
 What holds nucleons together?
The Coulomb repulsion of protons must be overcome.
A new kind of interaction must work: nuclear force (nuclear interaction).

1) It must be attractive because it overcomes the Coulomb repulsion of protons.

2) It must be short-range because there do not exist too large nuclei, they decompose, split.
Yukawa, 1935:
He concluded theoretically, that this interaction is mediated by a 𝑚 ≈ 200 ∙ 𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛
particle.

Powell, 1947:
He proved experimentally Yukawa’s assumption : in cosmic radiation he demonstrated the
predicted particle, called 𝜋-meson.
𝑚𝜋 ≈ 270 ∙ 𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is the nucleon indivisible?
Hofstadter, 1970:
From the so called deeply inelastic scattering of ultrarelativistic electrons on a proton: the
proton is also a complex particle, made up of three "quarks", with a "strong" interaction
among them.
If the total kinetic energy and momentum of the particles are
conserved during the interaction, then we speak of elastic scattering.
If the conservation of kinetic energy does not met because part of it is
converted into another form of energy, e.g. some participants are in
an excited state so that the initial and final state particles are still
retain their identity, then an inelastic scattering has occurred. And if
some particles disappear or new ones are formed during the process,
it is a case of deeply inelastic scattering.
 Tools of nuclear physics research
Radioactive decay, special 𝛽-decay processes.

Optical spectroscopy.

Particle accelerators.

Particle detectors.