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colinr
- 29
- 0
isn't a neutron more massive thatn a proton?
Atheist said:It is. Free neutrons are even unstable and decay with a lifetime of something like 12min. To my big surprise, when I looked it up, the mass-difference was much more than I expected: 2.5 times the mass of an electron (I expected not much more than the electron mass).
ArmoSkater87 said:This is impossible, the mass of the proton is 1.67262158 × 10-27 kilograms, while the mass of the electron is 9.10938188 × 10-31 kilograms. This means that the proton has a mass more than 10^4 times that of the electron.
The mass of a proton is approximately 1 atomic mass unit (amu), while the mass of a neutron is slightly greater at 1.008 amu. This means that a neutron is slightly heavier than a proton.
Protons and neutrons make up the majority of the mass in an atom. The number of protons and neutrons in an atom determines its atomic mass, which is the combined mass of all the particles in the nucleus.
No, protons and neutrons cannot change into one another. They are different types of particles with different properties, and their conversion is not possible according to the laws of physics.
The mass of an electron is significantly smaller than that of a proton or neutron. In fact, the mass of an electron is approximately 1/1836 of the mass of a proton. This means that protons and neutrons have almost 2000 times more mass than an electron.
The mass of a proton and neutron can vary slightly depending on the element they belong to. This is due to the presence of different numbers of subatomic particles, such as quarks and gluons, within the particles. However, within a specific element, the mass of a proton and neutron remain constant.