3 ms·
The muon decays into a positron and a pair of neutrinos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon#Muon_decay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon#Muon_decay
by fsh 4y ago
The muon decays into a positron and a pair of neutrinos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon#Muon_decay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muon#Muon_decay
- gus_massa 4y agoThe reaction would be Muon + Electron -> (Positron + Neutrino + Antinutrino) + Electron -> (Positron + Electron) + Neutrino + Antinutrino -> (Photon + Photon) + Neutrino + Antinutrino -> Photon + Photon + Neutrino + Antinutrino The Neutrino and Antineutrino would pass through you, the lab and the whole Earth, almost without interactions, so it's safe to ignore them. The photons will be very energetic and be actually Gamma Rays. Option 1) If it's a tiny amount like the one that can actually be produced, you will get a a few gamma ray. Option 2) If you can see the drop of liquid Mu_2 in the beaker, you will probably see a flash of gamma rays that will kill you and everyone in the lab. I'm too lazy to calculations but I guess an explosion of a few megatones (that is like a modern nuclear bomb). Also, perhaps many of the Electrons and Positrons will not colide immediately, and you would be showered also with some beta radiation. But the Positrons will colide after a short time and release the energy as gamma rays anyway. The exact amount of destruction of a drop of Mu_2 is a good question for https://what-if.xkcd.com/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/