Nuclear decay and neutron states

[Zolar V]

I stumbled upon this thought a few days ago but lack the total understanding of the concepts of physics to fully grasp the idea.

 

I was thinking about Nuclear decay within select elements such as nuclear grade uranium.

When a uranium atom undergoes nuclear decay it creates heat energy and a(or many) neutrons break off of the atom and are free to hit other things in space, such as other atoms, thus creating a chain reaction.

 

But i was wondering, is it possible to force the neutron into a different state? such as forcing it into a neutrino or even a photon?

 

What would it take to force an elementary particle into another state?

Lets just start simple, what is the difference between a electron and a neutron. can you force an electron to be a neutron?

-From what i understand the difference between an electron and a neutron is both charge and mass, and electron is negatively charged and has a mass that is substantially less than that of a neutron, whose charge is neutral.

 

Even if you can't in fact force a particle state into another particle state, could you take you neutron from nuclear decay and have it excite the particles of another element to give off photons?

[swansont]

But i was wondering, is it possible to force the neutron into a different state? such as forcing it into a neutrino or even a photon?

 

No. Neutrons are Baryons and comprised of quarks, so all you can do is have it change into something else with three quarks. The only lower-energy state available to a neutron is the proton, in which a down quark converts to an up quark (which is less massive) and you create an electron and antineutrino. The electron and antineutrino are a lepton/anti-lepton pair, conserving lepton number. Neutrons and protons are Baryons, so you conserve Baryon number as well.

 

What would it take to force an elementary particle into another state?

Lets just start simple, what is the difference between a electron and a neutron. can you force an electron to be a neutron?

-From what i understand the difference between an electron and a neutron is both charge and mass, and electron is negatively charged and has a mass that is substantially less than that of a neutron, whose charge is neutral.

 

Elementary particles don't have excited states by themselves. Those arise from interactions between particles, which have quantized energy levels. But the fundamental particles don't change what type they are, so if you have an electron, with Lepton number = 1, you will end up with a Lepton number of 1 when you are done. You also have charge = 1 and spin = 1/2, so you will end up with those values when you are done, unless the interaction is with another particle that has charge and spin.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_particles

 

 

Even if you can't in fact force a particle state into another particle state, could you take you neutron from nuclear decay and have it excite the particles of another element to give off photons?

 

Yes, excitation can occur via scattering or absorption of a neutron (or another particle).

[Zolar V]

just a thought, can you saturate a closed environment with a singular type of quark? or other elementary type particles, to accomplish the breakdown or decay of larger particles. Or maybe after decaying a large particle, allowing it to attract different elementary particles?

[swansont]

Quarks can't exist singly. They can occur in quark/antiquark pairs, which are mesons, in triplets, which are Baryons, and there's some indications that you can get a grouping of five.

 

If you bombard a particle, the reaction is no longer a decay, but yes you can induce reactions this way. Neutron or proton absorption by a nucleus can result in the ejection of other particles, leaving you with a different nucleus than you started with.

[Zolar V]

Small question, but what area of physics do these questions fall under? i may go into these studies to better understand the relationships elementary particles have with atoms.

[swansont]

Nuclear and particle physics, which are often treated as one topic at lower levels of university, but diverge into individual topics (and into low energy and high energy physics) as you advance.