On Mar 17, 12:54=A0pm, thro...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Wayne Throop) wrote:
> : sigidu...@[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?
> Of reactions where elctrons disappear, you have to conserve all kinds of
> things like charge, spin, momentum, etc. =A0A 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. =A0And I think
there
> are a few other cases by symmetry; at the least, the ones involving
> positrons. =A0So, 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. =A0And 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. =A0Same thing: if this counts as
"destroying"
> the electron, there you are. =A0Of course, as in producing a neutron,
the
> results in isolation will spontaneously decay and produce an electron
> eventually....
How about electron capture (aka inverse beta decay)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_capture
So, a fully ionized Rubidium-83 nucleus could be strolling along and
collide with your hapless electron, decaying into Krypton-83.
Unlike a free neutron, this Krypton-83 nucleus is stable, so it
won't just split out an electron a few minutes later.
Isaac Kuo
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