Why Do Neutrons Radioactively Decay, But Protons Don't?

[yellowputty]

Could someone please explain to me why stationary neutrons may radioactively decay but protons may not?

Thank you in advance :)

 

[Meir Achuz]

The proton is lighter than the neutron and all other baryons.
It could only decay into a lighter baryon, but there are none.
Some speculative theories predict proton decay with a lifetime of the order of the age of the universe, but proton decay has not been observed even at that level.

 

[yellowputty]

The proton is lighter than the neutron and all other baryons.
It could only decay into a lighter baryon, but there are none.
Some speculative theories predict proton decay with a lifetime of the order of the age of the universe, but proton decay has not been observed even at that level.

Thank you :)