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A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol p, H +, or 1 H + with a positive electric charge of +1 e (elementary charge).Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately 1836 times the mass of an electron (the proton-to-electron mass ratio).
For an ordinary atom which contains protons, neutrons and electrons, the sum of the atomic number Z and the neutron number N gives the atom's atomic mass number A. Since protons and neutrons have approximately the same mass (and the mass of the electrons is negligible for many purposes) and the mass defect of the nucleon binding is always small ...
Protons define the entire charge of a nucleus, and hence its chemical identity. Neutrons are electrically neutral, but contribute to the mass of a nucleus to nearly the same extent as the protons. Neutrons can explain the phenomenon of isotopes (same atomic number with different atomic mass). The main role of neutrons is to reduce electrostatic ...
The negatively charged electron has a mass of about 1 / 1836 of that of a hydrogen atom. The remainder of the hydrogen atom's mass comes from the positively charged proton. The atomic number of an element is the number of protons in its nucleus. Neutrons are neutral particles having a mass slightly greater than that of the proton.
By 1920 he had accepted that the hydrogen nucleus is a distinct particle within the atom and named it proton. Neutrons have no electrical charge and have a mass of 1.6749 × 10 −27 kg. [37] [38] Neutrons are the heaviest of the three constituent particles, but their mass can be reduced by the nuclear binding energy.
The proton's RMS charge radius of 0.8414 fm only defines the spatial extent of its charge distribution, i.e. the distance from its center of mass to its farthest point. Examination of the angular dependence of the charge distribution indicates that the proton is not a perfect sphere.
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The masses of the proton and neutron are similar: for the proton it is 1.6726 × 10 −27 kg (938.27 MeV/c 2), while for the neutron it is 1.6749 × 10 −27 kg (939.57 MeV/c 2); the neutron is roughly 0.13% heavier. The similarity in mass can be explained roughly by the slight difference in masses of up quarks and down quarks composing the ...