RE: Bismuth breaks half-life record

[BERNARD L COHEN <blc+@PITT.EDU>]

On Fri, 25 Apr 2003, 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 !



	--Take the simplest situation, the deuteron, a neutron and a

proton bound together. If the neutron decayed into a proton, the total

energy of the system would be increased. Where would this energy come

from? An isolated system cannot "decay" from a lower energy state to a

higher energy state. Decay is a process in which the energy of the system

is reduced.

	This reasoning applies to all nuclei which contain neutrons.



************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/