Let me try that one more time! As usual I made a slight error.
'
From the electric potential energy Pe for separating an electron and
proton we have:
'
Pe = k (-q)(q)(1/r) = -(2.88x10^-9 eV m) (1/r)
'
which we can rearrange to obtain r for a given potential energy,
'
r = (1.439965x10^-9 eV m) (1/Pe)
'
and we have for 0.78 MeV:
'
r = (1.44x10-9 eV m) (1/(0.78x10^6 eV))
'
r = 1.846x10-15 m <=== exponent -15, not -16
'
[snip]
Here's another issue I think is not commonly recognized or
considered, but which I think is valid. The size of the nucleus is
dependent on its de Broglie wavelength in the frame of observation.
However, the reference frame that is important to the nuclear
reactions discussed is that of the electron, not the laboratory. In
the electron's reference frame, the nucleus is very small, and can be
orders of magnitude smaller than in the lab frame, when the electron
is at near c velocity. This explains why a nucleus radius of
1.846x10-15 m can be no problem for the calculation made above, and
further why neutron formation is an unlikely event.
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
