Can subatomic particles be destroyed?

Matter cannot be built from both particles and antiparticles, however. When a particle meets its appropriate antiparticle, the two disappear in an act of mutual destruction known as annihilation. Among the particles created are pairs of electrons and positrons.

How do subatomic particles decay?

In a sense, particles will decay because they are lazy: they want to be in the lowest possible energy state they can reach. It turns out that left alone, a free neutron (one that isn’t bound in a nucleus) will spontaneously decay into a proton, and electron and a neutrino (this is called “beta decay”).

Why can’t atoms be created or destroyed?

Atoms cannot be created or destroyed. Atoms of different elements may combine with each other in a fixed, simple, whole number ratios to form compound atoms. Atoms of same element can combine in more than one ratio to form two or more compounds.

Do subatomic particles last forever?

Since an atom has a finite number of protons and neutrons, it will generally emit particles until it gets to a point where its half-life is so long, it is effectively stable.

Is there anything smaller than subatomic particles?

There is currently nothing known that is smaller than a subatomic particle. Even though subatomic particles are the smallest things in existence it…

Why are some particles unstable?

Particles can be unstable because there are certain interactions, or forces, that can transmute one particle into an equivalent or equivalent collection of other particles. One restriction is that the various conservation laws must hold. For example charge, baryon number, lepton number, angular momentum, energy, etc.

What happens to particles when they decay?

Particle decay is the spontaneous process of one unstable subatomic particle transforming into multiple other particles. The particles created in this process (the final state) must each be less massive than the original, although the total invariant mass of the system must be conserved.

What causes an electron to move from lower energy level to higher energy level?

An electron will jump to a higher energy level when excited by an external energy gain such as a large heat increase or the presence of an electrical field, or collision with another electron.

What happens when an electron falls to a lower energy level?

When the electron changes levels, it decreases energy and the atom emits photons. The photon is emitted with the electron moving from a higher energy level to a lower energy level. The energy of the photon is the exact energy that is lost by the electron moving to its lower energy level.

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