We can identify they exist from spectral scattering patterns, but does this mean the neutrons actually exist? Basically we don't. ... we got our first taste of the subatomic world. Scientific explanations often make use of things that cannot be seen or felt, such as protons, electrons, and quarks. Do these things really exist? We assume they exist from our atomic and subatomic modelling, useful in chemistry to balance out the electron charge against that of the proton, but they do not seem to actually exist as seperate entities that can be seen I am sure there are some people who object to that since there have been claims that electron microscopes have imaged atoms. From there, it got a lot messier. The x-rays were small enough to discern the atomic clouds.

This made much better sense of the atomic world. How do people really know that atoms exist even though they can't see them? There were now electrons equal to the atomic number surrounding the nucleus made up of neutrons and protons. Imagine being enclosed in a completely dark room with no light at all and not being able to see a thing. How Did We Figure Out Atoms Exist? Humans like to see something before they believe in it. Scientists dismiss God or a spirit because it cant be weighed or measured. Protons, Neutrons and Electrons cannot be measured either … Being chained to a chair somewhere in the room, and having a pile of rocks at disposal.

If so, how do is it known that they exist? You can identify atoms by detecting the energy of gamma rays alone “What we do a lot is to fire beams of neutrons at lumps of materials and from … No one has ever really seen an atom. Mr. Roentgen's x-rays allowed scientists to measure the size of the atom.