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Quandry
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a muon has a mass about 207 times that of an electron. When the muon decays it produces an electron and two neutrinos (simplest form). Neutrinos have minimal mass, so what happens to the rest of the mass?
Thanks, I sort of guessed that. But I was really wondering how the transformation took place and what form the energy took.Vanadium 50 said:It goes into energy.
Quandry said:Thanks, I sort of guessed that. But I was really wondering how the transformation took place and what form the energy took.
Quandry said:I have not found reference to photon emission which I would have expected with deceleration energy loss.
When a muon decays, it transforms into an electron and two types of neutrinos. This process is known as "lepton decay".
The mass of a muon does not change during the decay process. The total mass before and after the decay remains the same, but it is distributed among the resulting particles.
The half-life of a muon is approximately 2.2 microseconds. This means that after 2.2 microseconds, half of the original muons in a sample will have decayed into other particles.
The decay of a muon is primarily affected by its energy and the strength of the weak nuclear force. Higher energy muons may decay more quickly, and a stronger weak nuclear force can increase the probability of decay occurring.
Studying muon decay can provide insights into the fundamental forces of nature and the properties of subatomic particles. It also has practical applications in fields such as particle physics, astrophysics, and medical imaging.