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ScienceNerd36
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I've been wondering ever since I read about mesons, how they can exist. Shouldn't the particle anti-particle pair annihilate? Or is there something I'm missing from my idea of the meson?
A meson is a subatomic particle composed of a quark and an antiquark, bound together by the strong nuclear force. They are intermediate in mass between the lighter leptons and the heavier baryons.
An anti-particle is a particle with the same mass but opposite charge and other quantum numbers as its corresponding particle. For example, an anti-electron (positron) has a positive charge instead of a negative charge like an electron.
Particles and anti-particles annihilate when they come into contact with each other because they have opposite charges and can combine to form energy in the form of photons. This process is governed by the laws of conservation of energy and momentum.
In a meson, the annihilation of particle and anti-particle is important because it helps to stabilize the meson. Without this annihilation, the meson would quickly decay into other particles, violating the laws of conservation of energy and momentum.
No, mesons cannot exist without particle-antiparticle annihilation. As mentioned before, this process is crucial for the stability of mesons and without it, they would quickly decay into other particles.