... neutron. R: Unaffected by electric charges, the neutron can slip into a nucleus; it proved to be the most useful particle for initiating nuclear reactions. An important type, nuclear fission, was discovered by Hahn and Meitner in 1938. The concept of an atomic nucleus built of protons and neutrons explained why, when the elements are arranged in order of increasing mass, the atomic mass increases more rapidly than the atomic number. Further, different isotopes of a particular element all contain the same number of protons; they differ in mass by having a different number of neutrons. LISE MEITNER & OTTO HAHN V: Lise Meitner was born in 1878 and Otto Hahn in 1879. together with Fritz Strassmann they were the first to recognise that the uranium atom actually split under the bombardment of neutrons. Meitner studied Radioactivity at the University of Berlin. It was at this time that she met Otto Hahn and ...

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