The Scattering of Protons by Neutrons

The scattering of neutrons by protons has been investigated by observing recoil proton tracks with a liquid-filled cloud chamber. The neutrons used were produced by bombarding frozen heavy water with 1 Mev deuterons from a small cyclotron. The tracks of 870 recoil protons have been measured. Of these tracks 635 satisfied our length selection criteria and are used as the basis of the calculations. Random track, area, and azimuthal correction factors are calculated and applied. The final curve indicates that the scattering for the energy of neutrons used in this experiment is approximately spherically symmetrical about the center of gravity. This is in agreement with the current theory.