Question

What is a proton? How does it differ from a neutron?

Answer 1

Hint : An atom consists of subatomic particles. They are electrons, protons and neutrons. They differ from each other due to the charge possessed by them and many other factors. A proton is a positively charged particle, an electron is a negatively charged particle and neutrons are not charged particles.

Complete Step By Step Answer:
Protons are found in the nucleus of an atom and they reside with the neutrons at the nucleus of the atom. As mentioned earlier they carry a positive charge. This charge of the proton is equal to the charge of the electron and therefore expressed as $1\;e$ i.e. $1.67 \times {10^{ - 19}}C$
Discovery of Protons –
Electric discharge was carried out in a modified cathode ray tube which led to the discovery of protons, a particle carrying positive charge, also known as canal rays. The characteristics of these positively charged particles are as follow:
The positive charge particles depend upon the nature of the gas that is present in the cathode ray tube. These are positively charged gaseous ions.
The charge to mass ratio of the particles is found to depend on the gas from which it originates.
Some of the positively charged particles carry a multiple of the fundamental unit of electrical charge.
Hence proton can be defined as the fundamental particle which carries one unit positive charge and has a mass nearly equal to that of hydrogen atom.
The number of protons differs in each atom and forms the identity of an atom as in the periodic table the number of protons is used as the atomic number of that element.
A proton and a neutron though are subatomic particles of an atom but their properties vary, for example the neutron is not a charged particle whereas proton is a charged particle. Even though they both reside at the nucleus of the atom they do not exert any repelling force due to the existence of neutral and a positive charge. Neutrons have a mass slightly greater than that of protons.

Note :
Atomic number (Z) is the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom which is equal to the number of electrons in a neutral atom. Mass number (A) is the sum of protons and neutrons in an atom. Thus the mass of the nucleus is due to protons and neutrons.