Differences? They are both an electron and a proton, since the neutron decays to a proton...

Differences? They are both an electron and a proton, since the neutron decays to a proton and an electron, what's the difference between a neutron and proton + electron? so is it just a higher binding energy between the two?

Expert Solution

A neutron is not a proton and an electron lumped together (as your question seems to suggest you think)

A hydrogen atom is a bound state of an electron and a proton (bound by the electromagnetic force) whereas a neutron is a bound state of three quarks (bound by the strong force).

You might be tempted to think that a neutron is also a bound state of an electron and a proton because a neutron can decay into an electron and a proton and the neutron is also slightly more massive than a proton. But you'd be wrong. Here's why:

Both a neutron and a proton are bound states of three quarks. Beta decay can convert a neutron to a proton like this

Here, one of the down quarks in the neutron gets converted into an up quark, an electron and an antineutrino through the mediation of the weak force. Since the up quark has a charge of +2/3 and the down quark ?1/3, that explains the difference in charge of a neutron and a proton.

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That's what turns a neutron into a proton, not some kind of ejection of an electron out of the neutron, but a genuine transmutation of a fundamental particle (a down quark) through the weak force

genius_generous answered 1 month ago

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