Advanced physics probelm involving conservation, from six ideas Unit C textbook

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on calculating the average distance a neutrino travels through lead before interacting with a quark, given the extremely small interaction probability. It highlights that a neutrino must be within 10^-18m of a quark to interact, with a target area of about 10^-36m^2. The weak interaction results in only 1 in 10^12 neutrinos interacting significantly with quarks. Using Avogadro's number and the density of lead, participants are tasked with estimating this distance in light years. The main difficulty lies in applying these concepts to derive a meaningful estimate.
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Homework Statement



A neutrino must pass within about 10^-18m of a quark to have any chance of interacting with it. Thus, the maximum target area that a quark presents to a neutrino is about 10^-36m^2. However, a neutrino moves so quickly and the weak interaction is so weak that experimentally only about 1 in 10^12 typical neutrinos passing a quark within this radius actually interacts significantly with it. Use this information and the fact that Avagadro's number of protons and/or neutrons has a mass of about 1g and the fact that the density of lead is about 11g/cm^3 to estimate the average distance (in light years) that a neutrino would travel through the lead before it interacts.
 
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