RE: Bismuth breaks half-life record

[Michael McNaughton <mcnaught@LANL.GOV>]

At 03:37 PM 04/25/2003 -0400, Franta, Jaroslav wrote:



>Protons shmotons.

>What I would like to know is why the damned NEUTRONS stay put while 

>confined in an atomic nucleus or a neutron star, but as soon as they get 

>free, they fall to pieces in a few minutes !



A neutron in a nucleus can decay only if it the whole process conserves 

mass+energy, i.e., only if the final state has less rest mass than the 

initial state. In the case of a neutron star, the decay is forbidden 

because the electron produced by the decay cannot escape.



mike

Mike McNaughton

Los Alamos National Lab.

email: mcnaught@LANL.gov or mcnaughton@LANL.gov

phone: 505-667-6130



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