>>12372762I recommend you study nuclear science in the chronological order on which it was discovered. Its a logical chain, it starts with the accidental discovery of radioactivity and went on to studies of radioactivity, how many types there were, how it was measured, detectors, the geiger counter, etc. Radiation was then used to show atoms had a nucleus surrounded by electrons (gold foil experiment). Studies on conservation of mass and energy revealed energy was not preserved in some reactions so this lead to the prediction of neutrinos. Hitting materials with alpha radiation created new elementst, that was the first intentional nuclear reaction. Neutrons were deduced to exist based on a mass balance of the atomic nucleii and were confirned to exist as another type of radiation, specifically you could irradiate beryllium with alpha radiation and it would emit yet-another invisible radiation that could be detected by its effects on other matter, specifically it could energize protons to high energies, these flying protons could be detected again with cameras. There were other types of detectors made, such as bubble chambers and fog chambers. Eventually this whole field evolved into particle physics.
