: sigidunum@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Is it possible to destroy electrons by any means other than
: annihilation with an oppositely-charged particle?
:
: I'm thinking in particular of mechanical means -- pressure, tidal
: forces, what have you -- but is there anything?
Note in passing that electrons are undecomposable particles in
current theory, the least massive lepton. So they won't just decay.
Of reactions where elctrons disappear, you have to conserve all kinds of
things like charge, spin, momentum, etc. A free neutron can decay to a
proton and an electron, so we have (as mention elsethread, for neutron
star formation) proton plus electron yields neutron. And I think there
are a few other cases by symmetry; at the least, the ones involving
positrons. So, if you count cases like an electron joining a proton to
become a neutron as "destroying" the electron... well, there you are.
I *think* those are just about the only ones, though. And they require
a neutrino to be emitted or absorbed (as the case may be) along with
the other ingredients to balance momentum and such.
No, wait... the heavier leptons can decay, so presumably there are some
circumstances if you add this-and-that to an electron, it can become
one of the heavier leptons. Same thing: if this counts as "destroying"
the electron, there you are. Of course, as in producing a neutron, the
results in isolation will spontaneously decay and produce an electron
eventually....
Wayne Throop throopw@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://sheol.org/throopw
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