1/8/2023 0 Comments Mass of eutronThe neutron-proton mass difference may seem trivial but it has momentous consequences, because mass is a form of energy (remember E = mc2). Why is this? Did the Great Cosmic Designer initially intend the proton and neutron to have same mass but then threw in a bit more for the neutron as an afterthought? The neutron is very slightly heavier than the proton, by about 0.1%, or 1.00137841887 according to the best measurements. The proton is about 1,836 times as heavy as the electron nobody knows why nature picked that particular number. Dozens of particles are known to physicists, but the most familiar are the constituents of atoms: electrons, protons and neutrons. High on this list are the masses of subatomic particles. A few numbers do seem to be fundamental to the workings of the universe, however, because they describe the most basic processes of nature. The number of kookaburras in New South Wales on Christmas Day may be of interest to ornithologists, but is hardly of cosmic importance. But not all numbers are equal: some numbers are much more significant than others. It’s true that numbers crop up everywhere in the lives of scientists and engineers. Galileo famously wrote that the book of nature is “written in mathematical language”.
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