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How is a neutron different from a proton?
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subatomic particle
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle accelerator. At the LHC, located underground in Switzerland, physicists study subatomic particles.
Protons and neutrons are both hadrons and baryons that serve as the primary constituents of atomic nuclei, but they differ in several fundamental ways:
- Electric Charge: The proton carries a positive electric charge of , while the neutron is electrically neutral.12
- Quark Composition: Both particles are composed of three quarks. A proton consists of two up quarks and one down quark, whereas a neutron consists of one up quark and two down quarks.12
- Mass: The neutron has a rest mass that is marginally greater than that of the proton.13
- Stability: Within a nucleus, both are generally stable. However, a free neutron is unstable and subject to beta decay, breaking down into a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino with a half-life of 611 seconds. Protons are stable in their free state.13
These particles are collectively referred to as nucleons and are bound together in the nucleus by the strong force.1