🚀 go-pugleaf

On Wed, 26 Mar 1997 04:53:17 -0500, James Grady Ward
<jgward@eos.ncsu.edu> wrote:

>> 
>> The only reason they bounce is the electro repulsive force of their E
>> fields.  I explain below my thoughts on this.
>
>there actually is a little more to it that just the charges repeling
>each other.  electrons just do not overlap each other unless you have
>extreme amounts of pressure forcing them together.  this is called
>the pali(sp) exclusion principle.  i am not certain if two electrons
>can actually hit each other outside of a stars core.
>

That's not exactly right. The Fermi-Dirac exclusion prevents two
indentical fermions (of which electrons are an example) from being in
the same state at the same time. This creates a form of pressure
because there are only a finite number of states available in a
particular system below a given energy. In the right circumstances a
pair of electrons with opposite spins can coexist in the same place
quite chearfully (since the opposite spins mean they aren't in the
same state).



>of course fun question, what happens if a positron is formed
>inside a netron star and it is pressed into an electron?  electrons
>and protons simply form neutrons when this happens, but would
>positrons and electrons form somekind of particle?
>

Positrons and electrons meet quite enthusiastically and anihilate to
gamma radiation.

You do get a short lived composite state where the two of them orbit
arround their common center of mass, I think its called positronium or
some such. But because of the fuzziness of such particles they overlap
and quickly anhililate.

>
>ever heard of the weak and strong nuclear forces:)  i forget exactly
>what each does, but one of them is responsible for how neutrons behave.
>and the other determines when atoms decay radioactivly i think.
>

The strong is what holds nucleii together. The weak is related to
interactions between electrons and the like and is involved in the
kind of radioactive decay where a proton becomes a neutron or vica
versa.

---------------------------------+----------------------------------
I was born weird:  This terrible | Like Pavlov's dogs we are trained
compulsion to behave normally is | to salivate at the sound of the
the result of childhood trauma.  | liberty bell.
---------------------------------+----------------------------------
Malcolm