On Mar 17, 8:03 pm, Andrew Plotkin <erkyr...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Here, sigidu...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> > 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?
>
> It's not going to crack under a well-placed chisel, if that's what you
> mean.
Almost! I mean, charge and spin must be conserved, but...
> There are various nuclear reactions that an electron can undergo.
> Hitting a positron is the obvious one. Combining with a proton (under
> extremely high pressures, see "neutron star") to form a neutron is
> another; that's not generally called "annihilation".
No, but I'm looking for something that doesn't involve combining with
another particle.
It sounds like there isn't anything, though.
> Like, near
> a small black hole which is blasting out lots of Hawking radiation.
Hum. Tiny black holes produce insanely strong tidal forces (albeit
over very tiny distances). But I guess the Hawking radiation would
trump that.
Oh, yeah -- dumping an electron into a black hole destroys it, more or
less. Though the charge is conserved. (What happens to the spin?)
Doug M.
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