How Neutrons Decay to Charged Particles

[satrohraj]

I was just reading this..
Free Neutron decays into proton, electron and neutrino.

neutron --> proton + electron + v (neutrino)
----
My Question:
Neutron is chargeless. How can it give proton and neutron which are charged ?

(If the question is simple i am sorry, I am new to nuclear physics)

 

[Astronuc]

The electron (or beta particle) has a negative (-) charge which is equal in magnitude to the protons + charge.

The neutrino is actually an anti-neutrino in the case of neutron decay.

Refer to this page - http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/proton.html#c3

and plate just below it -
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/proton.html#c4

 

[satrohraj]

Thats not my point..
Can a neutral particle generate charged particle?

That is what happened there..

 

[arunma]

Thats not my point..
Can a neutral particle generate charged particle?

That is what happened there..

This is possible because the net charge of the entire system is still zero. Charge is conserved, so it all works out. I guess that naively, one could think of the neutron as a proton and an electron put together (which would be why neutron has no net charge). If that helps, anyway...

 

[satrohraj]

I get it, Thanks.

 

[QuantumPion]

A neutron is composed of 2 down quarks and 1 up quark. An up quark has a charge of +2/3, while down quarks have a charge of -1/3. In beta decay, a down quark turns into an up quark and emits an electron and a neutrino.

 

[mormonator_rm]

A neutron is composed of 2 down quarks and 1 up quark. An up quark has a charge of +2/3, while down quarks have a charge of -1/3. In beta decay, a down quark turns into an up quark and emits an electron and a neutrino.

Don't forget the virtual W- boson here...

d --> u + W-
W- --> e- + nubar

so that;

n --> p + e- + nubar

(sorry I don't use LaTeX that often) Note that both baryon number and lepton number are conserved here. That is very important...

 

[WeakCarrier]

neutron contains 3 quarks with the charges of 2/3+, 1/3-,1/3- so a -1/3 dcays into a +2/3 releasing a weak carrier particle which in turn decays into electron anti neutrino and a electron.

Edit:Just saw the post above me.But also matter (particle with odd-half spin is conserved.
HOW? Here:
Say fermions were +1 and bosons were 0 and antifermions were -1
the decay would look like this
+1(neutron) -> (proton) +1 and +1 (electron) and -1(antineutrino)
so 1 = 2- -1= 1
hope you understand

 

[nickthrop101]

if two substances have the same amount of charge, but one positive and one negative, then it has a neutral charge :)

 

[Vanadium 50]

This thread is 3 years old.