Could it be that human existence depends on gravitational waves? Some key elements in our biological makeup may come from astrophysical events that occur because gravitational waves exist, a research team headed by John R. ...
An international team of astronomers reports the detection of a rare eclipsing Be/X-ray binary system as part of the Swift Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) Survey (S-CUBED). The finding was detailed in a research paper published ...
How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it turns out, is about one-third the speed of light, as our team has just revealed in a new study published in Nature.
Astronomy
Mar 30, 2024
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Scientists may be one step closer to unlocking one of the great mysteries of the universe after calculating that neutron stars might hold a key to helping us understand elusive dark matter.
Astronomy
Apr 5, 2024
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Researchers from the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation (ICG) have helped to detect a remarkable gravitational-wave signal, which could hold the key to solving a cosmic mystery.
Astronomy
Apr 8, 2024
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In October 2022, an international team of researchers, including Northwestern University astrophysicists, observed the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever recorded, GRB 221009A.
Astronomy
Apr 12, 2024
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In a new paper published in JACS Au, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign analyzed the effects of solvation and ion valency on metallopolymers, with implications for critical materials recovery and recycling, ...
Polymers
Apr 13, 2024
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Using the MeerKAT radio telescope, an international team of astronomers has detected 10 new millisecond pulsars in a Galactic globular cluster known as Terzan 5. The finding, which makes Terzan 5 the most pulsar-rich globular ...
The time-tested strategy of "divide and conquer" took on a new, high-tech meaning during neutron experiments by scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. They discovered that the problems they ...
General Physics
Apr 1, 2024
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Cerium is a rare Earth metal that has numerous technological applications, for example, in some types of lightbulbs and flat-screen TVs. While the element is rare in Earth's crust, it is slightly more abundant in the universe. ...
General Physics
Mar 21, 2024
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The neutron is a subatomic particle with no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton.
Neutrons are usually found in atomic nuclei. The nuclei of most atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of protons in a nucleus is the atomic number and defines the type of element the atom forms. The number of neutrons determines the isotope of an element. For example, the carbon-12 isotope has 6 protons and 6 neutrons, while the carbon-14 isotope has 6 protons and 8 neutrons.
While bound neutrons in stable nuclei are stable, free neutrons are unstable; they undergo beta decay with a lifetime of just under 15 minutes (885.7 ± 0.8 s). Free neutrons are produced in nuclear fission and fusion. Dedicated neutron sources like research reactors and spallation sources produce free neutrons for the use in irradiation and in neutron scattering experiments.
Even though it is not a chemical element, the free neutron is sometimes included in tables of nuclides. It is then considered to have an atomic number of zero and a mass number of one.
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