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The neutron has a mean-square radius of about 0.8 × 10 −15 m, or 0.8 fm, [56] and it is a spin-½ fermion. [57] The neutron has no measurable electric charge. With its positive electric charge, the proton is directly influenced by electric fields, whereas the neutron is unaffected by electric fields. [58]
The rms charge radius is a measure of the size of an atomic nucleus, particularly the proton distribution. The proton radius is about one femtometre = 10 −15 metre. It can be measured by the scattering of electrons by the nucleus. Relative changes in the mean squared nuclear charge distribution can be precisely measured with atomic spectroscopy.
The neutron has a positively charged core of radius ≈ 0.3 fm surrounded by a compensating negative charge of radius between 0.3 fm and 2 fm. The proton has an approximately exponentially decaying positive charge distribution with a mean square radius of about 0.8 fm. [15]
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.
Nuclear reactions may be shown in a form similar to chemical equations, for which invariant mass must balance for each side of the equation, and in which transformations of particles must follow certain conservation laws, such as conservation of charge and baryon number (total atomic mass number). An example of this notation follows:
The neutron transport equation is a balance statement that conserves neutrons. Each term represents a gain or a loss of a neutron, and the balance, in essence, claims that neutrons gained equals neutrons lost. It is formulated as follows: [1]
If a neutron turns into a proton and the energy of the decay is less than 0.782343 MeV, the difference between the masses of the neutron and proton multiplied by the speed of light squared, (such as rubidium-87 decaying to strontium-87), the average binding energy per nucleon will actually decrease.
X-ray atomic form factors of oxygen (blue), chlorine (green), Cl − (magenta), and K + (red); smaller charge distributions have a wider form factor.. In physics, the atomic form factor, or atomic scattering factor, is a measure of the scattering amplitude of a wave by an isolated atom.