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  4. What would happen if two positrons collided?
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What would happen if two positrons collided?

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Offline Lewis Thomson (OP)

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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?
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Offline chiralSPO

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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
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Offline Kryptid

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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).
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Offline evan_au

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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
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