3 ms·
The article on Semi-empirical mass formula [0] is also interesting read, especially deconstructing the formula and seeing what impact each term has (e.g. asymme
by Leace 8y ago
The article on Semi-empirical mass formula [0] is also interesting read, especially deconstructing the formula and seeing what impact each term has (e.g. asymmetry term and the difference between the relation of number of protons to the number of neutrons).
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-empirical_mass_formula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-empirical_mass_formula
- Leace 8y agoAn interesting fact: free neutrons [0] are unstable and will decay into protons [1] with mean lifetime of ~15 minutes. That is one down quark will decay into an up quark (neutron is composed out of udd quarks, proton: uud) because down quarks have bigger mass than up quarks (see this nice Feynman diagram [2]). In the nucleus on the other hand Pauli exclusion principle makes two protons less favorable than a proton and neutron. Warning: this is what I understood from Wikipedia, IANAP (I am not a physicist). [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron [1]: And a couple of other particles, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron#Description https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron#Description [2]: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beta_Negative_Decay.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beta_Negative_Decay....