There is nuclear fusion and nuclear fission, but is there also such a thing as proton, electron and neutron fission where they are divided into quark(s)?
Answer
Hi Jordy,
As far as we know, electrons are point particles. This means that they are not made up of smaller particles and therefore cannot be split.
Protons and neutrons consist of quarks and can therefore be “split”. This is happening, for example, in the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva in Switzerland. In that machine, physicists make two protons collide with each other at a very high speed and the protons then disintegrate into quarks. Now it is true that quarks are very unstable in themselves and they will therefore immediately merge back into larger particles.
Greetings,
philippe,
Physicist Iowa State University
Answered by
Prof. dr. Dr Philippe Tassin
applied physics; optics; photonics; physics
Avenue des Pélain 2 1050 Ixelles
http://www.vub.ac.be/
.