24 August 2006

I'm Just Asking

If you don't like subatomic particles, this post probably isn't for you. If you do, then you will quickly discern that I really don't know what I'm talking about!

So, I'm just asking -

(1)
Since a neutron decays into a proton and an electron, can a neutron capture a positron and become a proton? Seems like the positron would anihilate the neutron's 'inner electron-ness', leaving a protron where the neutron was.

(2)
Then, if that can happen, could an anti-neutron absorb an ordinary electron to become an anti-proton?

(3)
Now, what happens if an anti-neutron collides with an ordinary proton? They're not anti-particles, so it doesn't seem like they'd anihilate one another. If protons and anti-neutrons don't destroy one another, could they be made to stick together? As though they were a deuterium nucleus, but with an anti-matter neutron?

(4)
Would this thing be stable? And what would you call it? Would you be able to put electrons in orbit and have something chemically identical to regular deuterium?

(5)
And finally, if you could have this proton/anti-neutron form of deuterium, and the answer to (2) is 'yes', what would happen if you blasted a sample of this stuff with an electron beam? Could the anti-neutrons in the weird deuterium capture electrons, and change into anti-protons while in this weird nucleus? If so, it's pretty apparent what ought to happen when the newly formed anti-proton notices it's bound to a regular proton.

So, if the answers to those questions are mostly 'yes', it would seem that you'd have a scenario where you could keep a supply of this relatively harmless stuff just like regular hydrogen, and then when you want some quick energy, hit it with an electron beam and induce something akin to total conversion of mass to energy.

Granted, you probably wouldn't get back nearly as much energy as you'd have to put in to (A) create anti-neutrons, however one goes about that, and to (B) get the anti-neutrons absorbed into a supply of regular hydrogen. This certainly is not a primary energy source, and highly probably not even an efficient means of storing energy, either, but there might be niche applications where the total conversion would invaluable - like trying to move spacecraft on the scale of light years per decade.

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