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Old 23-April-2007, 04:20 PM
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Hamlet Hamlet is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ahsanali View Post
Very nice... I especially liked the basics on what quarks are and how we go from protons to neutrons.

One question that lingers is that protons carry a positive charge and neutrons have, well a "neutral" charge. As I understand, the neutrinos do not carry a positive charge (or they'd be easier to detect, right?).

So what happens to the positive charge from the proton? Or is the charge simply a property of the up/down quark combination and does not exist in and of itself?
When the two protons fuse, one is transformed to a neutron via the weak nuclear force. This reaction also release a positron and an electron neutrino. The positron carries away the positive charge of one of the protons.

Have a look at the Proton-Proton Chain Reaction for a full description.
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