Cockcroft–Walton experiment
E139400
The Cockcroft–Walton experiment was a pioneering 1932 nuclear physics experiment that achieved the first artificial disintegration of atomic nuclei using accelerated protons, confirming Einstein’s mass–energy equivalence.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Cockcroft–Walton experiment canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1224904 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Cockcroft–Walton experiment Context triple: [John Cockcroft, knownFor, Cockcroft–Walton experiment]
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A.
Trouton–Noble experiment
The Trouton–Noble experiment was an early 20th-century test of the luminiferous aether that searched for a torque on a charged capacitor in motion and, by finding no such effect, provided support for the emerging theory of special relativity.
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B.
Ives–Stilwell experiment
The Ives–Stilwell experiment is a classic test of special relativity that measured the relativistic Doppler effect to confirm time dilation for fast-moving ions.
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C.
Davisson–Germer experiment
The Davisson–Germer experiment was a landmark 1927 physics experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of electrons through diffraction from a nickel crystal, providing key evidence for quantum mechanics and wave–particle duality.
-
D.
Chicago Pile-2
Chicago Pile-2 was an early research nuclear reactor built at the Argonne site to continue and expand experimental work following the first controlled chain reaction achieved by Chicago Pile-1.
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E.
Chicago Pile-1
Chicago Pile-1 was the world’s first artificial nuclear reactor, achieving the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in 1942 under the leadership of Enrico Fermi.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Cockcroft–Walton experiment Target entity description: The Cockcroft–Walton experiment was a pioneering 1932 nuclear physics experiment that achieved the first artificial disintegration of atomic nuclei using accelerated protons, confirming Einstein’s mass–energy equivalence.
-
A.
Trouton–Noble experiment
The Trouton–Noble experiment was an early 20th-century test of the luminiferous aether that searched for a torque on a charged capacitor in motion and, by finding no such effect, provided support for the emerging theory of special relativity.
-
B.
Ives–Stilwell experiment
The Ives–Stilwell experiment is a classic test of special relativity that measured the relativistic Doppler effect to confirm time dilation for fast-moving ions.
-
C.
Davisson–Germer experiment
The Davisson–Germer experiment was a landmark 1927 physics experiment that demonstrated the wave nature of electrons through diffraction from a nickel crystal, providing key evidence for quantum mechanics and wave–particle duality.
-
D.
Chicago Pile-2
Chicago Pile-2 was an early research nuclear reactor built at the Argonne site to continue and expand experimental work following the first controlled chain reaction achieved by Chicago Pile-1.
-
E.
Chicago Pile-1
Chicago Pile-1 was the world’s first artificial nuclear reactor, achieving the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in 1942 under the leadership of Enrico Fermi.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
historical scientific experiment
ⓘ
nuclear physics experiment ⓘ particle accelerator experiment ⓘ |
| approximateVoltage |
about 400 kilovolts
ⓘ
several hundred kilovolts ⓘ |
| basedOnEquation | E = mc² ⓘ |
| conductedAt |
Cavendish Laboratory
ⓘ
University of Cambridge ⓘ
linked to:
Cambridge University
|
| conductedBy |
Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton
ⓘ
linked to:
Ernest Walton
John Douglas Cockcroft ⓘ
linked to:
John Cockcroft
|
| confirmedTheoryOf | mass–energy equivalence ⓘ |
| country | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| date | 1932-04-14 ⓘ |
| demonstrated |
Einstein’s mass–energy equivalence
ⓘ
artificial disintegration of atomic nuclei ⓘ |
| energyOfProtons |
about 400 keV
ⓘ
approximately 0.4 MeV ⓘ |
| era | early 20th century ⓘ |
| field |
nuclear physics
ⓘ
particle physics ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance | marked beginning of accelerator-based nuclear physics ⓘ |
| languageOfOriginalPublication | English ⓘ |
| ledTo | development of higher-energy particle accelerators ⓘ |
| notableAs |
first artificial disintegration of a nucleus by accelerated particles
ⓘ
first experimental verification of E = mc² using nuclear reactions ⓘ |
| reactionEquation | p + ⁷Li → 2 ⁴He ⓘ |
| reactionProduced | alpha particle ⓘ |
| reactionProducts | two alpha particles ⓘ |
| reactionType |
artificial nuclear disintegration
ⓘ
proton-induced nuclear reaction ⓘ |
| recognizedBy |
Nobel Prize in Physics 1951 to Cockcroft and Walton
ⓘ
linked to:
Nobel Prize in Physics
|
| relatedTo |
Cockcroft–Walton generator
ⓘ
alpha particle ⓘ nuclear transmutation ⓘ particle accelerator ⓘ |
| resultedIn |
evidence for conversion of mass into energy
ⓘ
measurement of energy released in nuclear reaction ⓘ |
| supportedWorkOf |
Ernest Rutherford’s nuclear model research
ⓘ
linked to:
Rutherford model of the atom
|
| usedAcceleratorType |
Cockcroft–Walton voltage multiplier
ⓘ
linked to:
Cockcroft–Walton generator
electrostatic accelerator ⓘ |
| usedComponent |
high-voltage rectifier circuit
ⓘ
voltage multiplier cascade ⓘ |
| usedDetectionMethod |
microscope observation of scintillations
ⓘ
scintillation screen ⓘ |
| usedParticle | proton ⓘ |
| usedTarget |
lithium
ⓘ
lithium-7 nucleus ⓘ |
| year | 1932 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Cockcroft–Walton experiment Description of subject: The Cockcroft–Walton experiment was a pioneering 1932 nuclear physics experiment that achieved the first artificial disintegration of atomic nuclei using accelerated protons, confirming Einstein’s mass–energy equivalence.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.