The free neutron has a half life of just under 15 minutes. Scientist are constantly trying to nail this down so that the standard model can be happy. (calcs match experiment) Here is an article on the most recent effort.
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2014/02/scien ... cation=top
The neutron, I have always felt, is a bridge of sorts. A bridge between the stable and the unstable particle universe. The proton and the electron are known to be stable to the point of having a "guestimated" lifetime of effectively infinite. No other particle has a comprehensible, real time half life other than the neutron. It is as if it were some special form of a crushed, metastable isotope of hydrogen. A particle of an age of its own that is ending and is in a temporal abyss between two epochs. The virtual end of the mesonic epoch leaves the poor phantom meson with a lifetime on the order of a single microsecond. (the next longest lifetime after the neutron. Thus, a vast gulf is affixed between them and their respective epochs.
There are no mesons, of course, unless we beat an atom over the head with at least 100+ mev of localized energy. Just as there are no real neutrons until you more gently nudge a small nucleus with 2-5 mev or a giant, massive nucleus is forced to self destruct via spliting. Protons are easily obtained with only 14ev of applied energy in Hydrogen. Electrons roam rather freely about in the atmosphere and can be mechanically and thermally displaced from bulk matter.
The neutron is, indeed, a special particle that can provide a key to things as yet un-dreamed of.
Richard Hull
Spliting hairs on Neutron lifetimes.
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Richard Hull
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Spliting hairs on Neutron lifetimes.
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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Rich Feldman
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Re: Spliting hairs on Neutron lifetimes.
I thought the lifetime of free neutrons was about 12 minutes.
Richard, your link says 15 minutes, not 15 seconds.
Neutrons have been produced by the hundreds of pounds in giant H-bomb detonations.
But near the surface of the earth, most would have been captured long before they decayed as free particles.
Richard, your link says 15 minutes, not 15 seconds.
Neutrons have been produced by the hundreds of pounds in giant H-bomb detonations.
But near the surface of the earth, most would have been captured long before they decayed as free particles.
All models are wrong; some models are useful. -- George Box
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Richard Hull
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Re: Spliting hairs on Neutron lifetimes.
Er.... sorry... I knew it was minutes....Senior moment.......I have made the correction.
Virtually all neuts produced here on earth are captured at some point. Some spalling, (Oppenheimer-Philips reaction), will occur on the ultra high energy ones, though. In some of the highest energy accelerators some will be blown to Quarkerenes to last only pico seconds. (depending or the Quark's quirkiness, flavor charm, beauty or color).......The top quark wins with a hyper-brief lifetime in the pico attosecond range. This stuff is just not meant to be
Richard Hull
Virtually all neuts produced here on earth are captured at some point. Some spalling, (Oppenheimer-Philips reaction), will occur on the ultra high energy ones, though. In some of the highest energy accelerators some will be blown to Quarkerenes to last only pico seconds. (depending or the Quark's quirkiness, flavor charm, beauty or color).......The top quark wins with a hyper-brief lifetime in the pico attosecond range. This stuff is just not meant to be
Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment