Proton

This article is about the proton as a subatomic particle. For the aqueous form o
f the hydrogen ion often encountered in biochemistry, see Hydronium. For other u
ses, see Proton (disambiguation).
Proton Quark structure proton.svg
The quark structure of the proton. (The color assignment of individual quarks is
not important, only that all three colors are present.)
Classification Baryon
Composition 2 up quarks, 1 down quark
Statistics Fermionic
Interactions Gravity, Electromagnetic, Weak, Strong
Symbol p, p+, N+
Antiparticle Antiproton
Theorized William Prout (1815)
Discovered Ernest Rutherford (19171919, named by him, 1920)
Mass
1.672621777(74)10-27 kg[1]
938.272046(21) MeV/c2[1]
1.007276466812(90) u[1]
Mean lifetime >2.11029 years (stable)
Electric charge +1 e
1.602176565(35)10-19 C[1]
Charge radius 0.8775(51) fm[1]
Electric dipole moment <5.410-24 ecm
Electric polarizability 1.20(6)10-3 fm3
Magnetic moment
1.410606743(33)10-26 JT-1[1]
1.521032210(12)10-3 B[1]
2.792847356(23) N[1]
Magnetic polarizability 1.9(5)10-4 fm3
Spin 1/2
Isospin 1/2
Parity +1
Condensed I(JP) = 1/2(1/2+)
The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol p or p+ and a positive electr
ic charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus
of each atom. Protons and neutrons are collectively referred to as "nucleons".
The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom is referred to as its atomic num
ber. Since each element has a unique number of protons, each element has its own
unique atomic number. The name proton was given to the hydrogen nucleus by Erne
st Rutherford in 1920, because in previous years he had discovered that the hydr
ogen nucleus (known to be the lightest nucleus) could be extracted from the nucl
ei of nitrogen by collision, and was thus a candidate to be a fundamental partic
le and building block of nitrogen, and all other heavier atomic nuclei.
In the modern Standard Model of particle physics, the proton is a hadron, and li
ke the neutron, the other nucleon (particle present in atomic nuclei), is compos
ed of three quarks. Prior to that model becoming a consensus in the physics comm
unity, the proton was considered a fundamental particle. In the modern view, a p
roton is composed of three valence quarks: two up quarks and one down quark. The
rest masses of the quarks are thought to contribute only about 1% of the proton
's mass. The remainder of the proton mass is due to the kinetic energy of the qu
arks and to the energy of the gluon fields that bind the quarks together.
Because the proton is not a fundamental particle, it possesses a physical sizealt
hough this is not perfectly well-defined since the surface of a proton is somewh
at fuzzy, due to being defined by the influence of forces that do not come to an
abrupt end. The proton is about 1.61.7 fm in diameter.[2]
The free proton (a proton not bound to nucleons or electrons) is a stable partic
le that has not been observed to break down spontaneously to other particles. Fr
ee protons are found naturally in a number of situations in which energies or te
mperatures are high enough to separate them from electrons, for which they have
some affinity. Free protons exist in plasmas in which temperatures are too high
to allow them to combine with electrons. Free protons of high energy and velocit
y make up 90% of cosmic rays, which propagate in vacuum for interstellar distanc
es. Free protons are emitted directly from atomic nuclei in some rare types of r
adioactive decay. Protons also result (along with electrons and antineutrinos) f
rom the radioactive decay of free neutrons, which are unstable.
At sufficiently low temperatures, free protons will bind to electrons. However,
the character of such bound protons does not change, and they remain protons. A
fast proton moving through matter will slow by interactions with electrons and n
uclei, until it is captured by the electron cloud of an atom. The result is a pr
otonated atom, which is a chemical compound of hydrogen. In vacuum, when free el
ectrons are present, a sufficiently slow proton may pick up a single free electr
on, becoming a neutral hydrogen atom, which is chemically a free radical. Such "
free hydrogen atoms" tend to react chemically with many other types of atoms at
sufficiently low energies. When free hydrogen atoms react with each other, they
form neutral hydrogen molecules (H2), which are the most common molecular compon
ent of molecular clouds in interstellar space. Such molecules of hydrogen on Ear
th may then serve (among many other uses) as a convenient source of protons for
accelerators (as used in proton therapy) and other hadron particle physics exper
iments that require protons to accelerate, with the most powerful and noted exam
ple being the Large Hadron Collider.
Contents
1 Description
2 Stability
3 Quarks and the mass of the proton
4 Charge radius
5 Interaction of free protons with ordinary matter
6 Proton in chemistry
6.1 Atomic number
6.2 Hydrogen ion
6.3 Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
7 History
8 Exposure
9 Antiproton
10 See also
11 References
12 External links
Description
Protons are spin- fermions and are composed of three valence quarks,[3] making th
em baryons (a sub-type of hadrons). The two up quarks and one down quark of the
proton are held together by the strong force, mediated by gluons.[2] A modern pe
rspective has the proton composed of the valence quarks (up, up, down), the gluo
ns, and transitory pairs of sea quarks. The proton has an approximately exponent
ially decaying positive charge distribution with a mean square radius of about 0
.8 fm.[4]
Protons and neutrons are both nucleons, which may be bound together by the nucle
ar force to form atomic nuclei. The nucleus of the most common isotope of the hy
drogen atom (with the chemical symbol "H") is a lone proton. The nuclei of the h
eavy hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium contain one proton bound to one and
two neutrons, respectively. All other types of atomic nuclei are composed of tw
o or more protons and various numbers of neutrons.
Stability
Main article: Proton decay
The spontaneous decay of free protons has never been observed, and the proton is
therefore considered a stable particle. However, some grand unified theories of
particle physics predict that proton decay should take place with lifetimes of
the order of 1036 years, and experimental searches have established lower bounds
on the mean lifetime of the proton for various assumed decay products.
Experiments at the Super-Kamiokande detector in Japan gave lower limits for prot
on mean lifetime of 6.61033 years for decay to an antimuon and a neutral pion, an
d 8.21033 years for decay to a positron and a neutral pion.[5] Another experiment
at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada searched for gamma rays resulting
from residual nuclei resulting from the decay of a proton from oxygen-16. This
experiment was designed to detect decay to any product, and established a lower
limit to the proton lifetime of 2.11029 years.[6]
However, protons are known to transfo