What is the average lifetime of a free (outside a nucleus) neutron?
Outside the nucleus, free neutrons are unstable and have a mean or average lifetime of about 14 minutes, 42 seconds.
What are your thoughts on this subject?
38 Comments
Carmen Brown
So what happens to them when they "die"? Do they become something else? Are they absorbed by something else?
11
Dec 15, 2018 7:37AM
larrywagner
Knew this from working at Los Alamos Lab. I worked in the WNR section. Free neutrons decay in a matter minutes.
6
Jan 18, 2020 10:46PM
chargerfan
A neutron bomb theoretically leaves no lasting radiation, so the shortest time span for the avg life span had to be in seconds or minutes, not years. However if there had been more than one answer in minutes and seconds, the neutrons in my brain would have exploded, lol
0
Sep 13, 2021 10:06PM
redrose
Liam O'Connor, wow😮😮😮😁
0
Jun 30, 2021 12:41PM
earlepg
Awfully short answer. Appreciate some of the comments made earlier. Still clear as mud.
3
Nov 9, 2020 5:43AM
Carroll Price
Free neutrons become rioters.
3
Jul 31, 2020 10:43PM
Richard Rubright
Proton and an electron.
1
Jul 30, 2020 3:45PM
Allan John Moverley Smith
Carmen Brown, They split into a proton and an electron ... which together constitute a hydrogen atom.
2
Jul 8, 2020 2:15PM
james parrillo
larrywagner, Player Cari G. and I would like to know why neutrons would leave the nucleus? Does this happen naturally, or only in a lab? Thank you, Christine, James' wife
0
Jun 17, 2020 1:05PM
james parrillo
Cari G., Neutrons are a part inside an atom that have no charge. Protons have a positive charge and are also within an atom. Electrons have a negative charge and are outside an atom. Neutrons affect the weight of an element, but not its number on the periodic table. Maybe, I will scroll up to ask Larry Wagner why neutrons would ever leave an atom. He worked in nuclear lab, it seems. Thank you, Christine, James' wife
0
Jun 17, 2020 1:04PM
tbear
tesla alset, got your back, Tesla! 😊 👍
0
Feb 7, 2020 7:01PM
tbear
ninakamwene, 👍 😊
1
Feb 7, 2020 7:00PM
tbear
larrywagner, good comment, Larry! 😊 👍
2
Feb 7, 2020 7:00PM
larrywagner
tesla alset, Good reply Tesla.
0
Jan 18, 2020 10:35PM
Cari G.
Ok, so I think a few more words might help our understanding of neutrons
3
Aug 29, 2019 10:10PM
Jim Smotrycki
it pays to pay attention ib physics class even 34 years later.
4
Apr 3, 2019 5:55PM
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