The Naked Scientists
Toggle navigation
Login
Register
Podcasts
The Naked Scientists
eLife
Naked Genetics
Naked Astronomy
In short
Naked Neuroscience
Ask! The Naked Scientists
Question of the Week
Archive
Video
SUBSCRIBE to our Podcasts
Articles
Science News
Features
Interviews
Answers to Science Questions
Get Naked
Donate
Do an Experiment
Science Forum
Ask a Question
About
Meet the team
Our Sponsors
Site Map
Contact us
User menu
Login
Register
Search
Home
Help
Search
Tags
Recent Topics
Login
Register
Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences
Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology
What would happen if two positrons collided?
« previous
next »
Print
Pages: [
1
]
Go Down
What would happen if two positrons collided?
3 Replies
3728 Views
6 Tags
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Lewis Thomson
(OP)
Sr. Member
271
Activity:
0%
Thanked: 3 times
Naked Science Forum Newbie
What would happen if two positrons collided?
«
on:
05/02/2018 12:18:10 »
Peter asks:
What would happen if two positrons collided?
What do you think?
Logged
chiralSPO
Global Moderator
Naked Science Forum King!
3743
Activity:
0%
Thanked: 531 times
Re: What would happen if two positrons collided?
«
Reply #1 on:
05/02/2018 13:15:46 »
Same thing that happens when two electrons collide. There will likely be some EM radiation released (frequency depending on how fast their relative velocities are).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremsstrahlung
Logged
Kryptid
Global Moderator
Naked Science Forum King!
8082
Activity:
1.5%
Thanked: 514 times
Re: What would happen if two positrons collided?
«
Reply #2 on:
05/02/2018 20:27:41 »
If the energies of the two positrons are high enough, you could get a shower of new particles (just as long as the particles produced obey conservation laws, such as having a net charge equal to that of the two positrons).
Logged
evan_au
Global Moderator
Naked Science Forum GOD!
11035
Activity:
9%
Thanked: 1486 times
Re: What would happen if two positrons collided?
«
Reply #3 on:
05/02/2018 20:39:40 »
...but some really interesting things happen if a positron and an electron collide at a fairly low energy - the positron can act as a light proton, forming a very light pseudo-hydrogen nicknamed "positronium".
Unlike Hydrogen, it has a rapid and rather spectacular end.
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positronium
Logged
Print
Pages: [
1
]
Go Up
« previous
next »
Tags:
positrons
/
collision
/
matter
/
energy
/
particle
/
physics
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...