On Sun, Mar 24, 2013 at 10:50 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > In reply to Harry Veeder's message of Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:36:40 -0400: > Hi, > [snip] >>> It's actually classically forbidden. 1 baseball + a second baseball does not >>> make 3 baseballs. >> >>I don't understand your analogy. >>Aren't we talking about 1e combining with 1p to make 1n? > > Yes, but that's the problem. 1p + 1e is not enough to make 1n. In fact you > would > need the mass of about an extra 1 1/2 electrons to make an n. > e.g. 1p + 2 1/2 e ~= 1n, but then you have too much negative charge. > > In order to make 1n from 1p and only 1e, at least one of the two needs to be > moving very fast before the collision, so that the kinetic energy can be > converted to the needed extra mass, according to m = E/c^2.
Ok, I will give up on formation of reduce mass neutrons outside a nucleus. Instead I will focus on how an electron and proton could collide to form neutral-like entity. > [snip] >>> Note that they can only be made *in* another nucleus, or at the very least, >>> very, very close to it, such that the ensuing neutron(s) are immediately >>> captured. >> >>I am just speculating on the possibility that ionized hydrogen could be made >>into a reduced mass neutron since the reduced mass neutron won't >>produce radioactive >>isotopes needing gamma shielding. Ionized hydrogen, i.e. a proton, >>would become a reduced >>mass neutron by "colliding" with a free electron. As the electron >>approaches the proton >>it would be on a trajectory where the combination is a inevitable >>outcome. This scenario is based on >>on a analogy from celestial mechanics where different approach >>trajectories can result in >>different outcomes: collision, stable orbit, escape. In most >>environments, free electrons and protons >>form atoms, i.e. systems with stable orbits. However, the environment >>of some lattices would tend to channel >>protons and electrons on to paths such that they are bound to "collide". > > They are also oppositely charged, so they naturally attract one another. That > improves the chances of a collision a lot. Yes, like asteriods and planets. harry
