Magnets trap neutrons for a lifetime

June 21, 2002 at 4:55 pm - More than 2 years ago

Alone or in company, protons are built to last. Not so neutrons.

Beam (not shown) from left sheds neutrons (yellow dots) in magnet-shrouded trapping chamber (hollow blue pipe). Decays there ionize helium, causing flashes that indicate neutron lifetime. Huffman et al./Nature

While protons will endure far longer than the age of the universe, a loose neutron bids adieu in only minutes to hours, experiments have shown.

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