Today I just wanted to tell you a little bit about neutrons, and why I think they're the coolest. You know, in a way they're like a Chanel purse - classical, and never out of style ;)
speaking of Chanel: I've been thinking that I should buy a black Chanel purse as a gift for my self when I have finished my PhD, but maybe I should consider the pink one instead...?
So here are my ten reasons why I think neutrons are really cool:
- Neutrons have no charge
- They decide if an atom is stable or radioactive
- A single neutron can sneak its way into a nucleus and make fission <3
- It's an unstable particle with a half life of a little bit more than 10 minutes
- I sort of envision them as white dots, or tiny billiard balls...
- A free neutron turns into hydrogen (meaning that the neutron is actually a radioactive particle - radioactivity is just soooo fascinating :D )
- Neutrons are the "flame" in the fuel of a nuclear reactor
- Neutrons gives different doses (of radiation) depending on their energy
- You can make a neutron from a proton and a proton from a neutron (almost sounds like witchcraft, or something)
- If neutrons have the right energy, they can do quite a lot of damage - but you can just use normal water as a shield, and you're fine ;)
I
just love them - neutrons are without doubt my favorite. They're fabulous ✨
Do you have a favorite particle?
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PS:
I am working on Question of the month (which is actually not a nuclear
physics one this first time) - the plan was to publish it yesterday, but
since I (unfortunately? :P ) have another job than just being a
blogger, I haven't been able to finish it yet , and I'm really sorry :/
However, I'm still inside my own "limits", since I said it would come
this week, and even though it's Friday, it's not the end of the week
just yet ;)
I had to read about the neutron changing into a hydrogen atom on wikipedia, I didn't know that(didn't really know any of this, am a layman). It's cool that it traps its radiated(if that's the correct term) electron and becomes a hydrogen. I don't understand how this can produce both a proton and an anti-neutron, since both have almost the same mass as a neutron, but I guess that has something to do with the mass of the anti-neutron being anti-mass, whatever that means..
SvarSlettBut it also says on wikipedia that: "The transformation of a free proton to a neutron (plus a positron and a neutrino) is energetically impossible, since a free neutron has a greater mass than a free proton.", which doesn't seem to fit with your fact #9. Are we doing this by adding energy to the proton somehow?
My favorite particle is the Neutrino. I don't know much(anything) about it, but it seems to be a bit mysterious yet, and a great way to send information over long distances since it doesn't interact much with matter. If we can create some super-exotic magic material to detect it, and can reliably create- and steer it- how and where we want :P But apart from this fantasy, using neutrinos seem to be a way to peer into the heart of stars or other things that are difficult to penetrate by other kinds of radiation. Which sounds cool!
You were great on the show 'Big Bang'!
Thank you for a nice commentary :)
SlettI don't really have time to give you a proper answer right now, but I will save your question for later (maybe a Question of the month ;) )
-Sunniva