Of all the light elements, helium-4, which consists of two protons and two neutrons, has the largest binding energy, which means it's the easiest to form and the hardest to break apart.

Free neutrons have a short half-life of about 15 minutes, limiting scenarios in which they are available in the abundance required to form heavy elements.

Many of the universe’s heaviest elements form primarily through the r-process, a chain of reactions through which atomic nuclei climb the periodic table, swallowing up neutrons and decaying ...

Heavy duty A high-energy photonic jet (white and blue) blasts through a collapsing star with a black hole at its centre. The cocoon where free neutrons may be available for the r-process is shown in ...

Protons are about 99.86% as massive as neutrons according to the Jefferson Lab. The number of protons in an atom is unique to each element.

The orbital angular momentum of neutrons has been measured and controlled for the first time by researchers in Canada and the US. The research opens up the possibility of using beams of “twisted” ...

In the course of observations of the neutrons produced by the bombardment of elements with accelerated heavy hydrogen ions, we have noticed repeatedly the production of remarkably strong ionising ...

I. CURIE, Joliot and Preiswerk 1 have shown that by bombarding silicon and phosphorus by neutrons there are produced radio-elements which spontaneously emit neutrons, in addition to electrons ...

A new study presents a method to record the temperature of materials with exceptional temporal resolution, using a Doppler broadening effect in neutron resonance absorption. Using a high-powered ...

Neutrons, the mundane-seeming inhabitants of atoms, could be hiding a secret connection to dark matter, according to a new proposal.