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→Given that something can happen, how often does it happen?
*Q: How about neutron decay? How can the closeness of approach be theorized for a single particle?
*Q: How about neutron decay? How can the closeness of approach be theorized for a single particle?
*A: In such cases it is necessary to consider the more esoteric theory involving quarks, that this article is ignoring for the most part. In the diagram above, two quarks collided within the neutron, initiating the decay. One can think of larger particles like neutron as having quarks rattling around inside, ready to collide.
*A: In such cases it is necessary to consider the more esoteric theory involving quarks, that this article is ignoring for the most part. In the diagram above, two quarks collided within the neutron, initiating the decay. One can think of larger particles like neutron as having quarks rattling around inside, ready to collide.
==Half-life==
The probability of a given transformation, within a given configuration of particles, per unit time, is fixed. This means that the decay proceeds exponentially. (This is true of alpha and gamma decay also, for the same reason.) This gives every isotope a characteristic half-life. Half-lives are usually not able to be calculated on a theoretical basis; they are measured from observation. The probabilities derive from the overlap of the wave functions, leading to quantum mechanical probability. This is fixed, by the rules of quantum mechanics.
==References==
==References==