![]() Protons-whether inside atoms or drifting free in space-appear to be remarkably stable. If protons were as unstable as neutrons, that plasma would eventually vanish.īut that isn’t happening. Much of the ordinary matter (as opposed to dark matter) in galaxies and beyond comes in the form of hydrogen plasma, a hot gas made of unattached protons and electrons. What about protons?Ī free proton is a pretty common sight in the cosmos. ![]() A neutron outside of an atomic nucleus decays in a matter of minutes into other particles. Yet neutrons appear to be different from protons in an important way: They aren’t stable. They’re made of the same quarks, which are even smaller particles, and they have almost exactly the same mass. ![]() Protons and neutrons are very similar particles in most respects. The stuff of daily existence is made of atoms, and all those atoms are made of the same three things: electrons, protons and neutrons. ![]()
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August 2023
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