• Question: Is proton really stable? or does it eventually decay?

    Asked by maxsmith1 to Arttu, Ceri, James_M, Monica, Philip on 13 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: James M Monk

      James M Monk answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      The proton is a very stable particle – it’s half life for decay is known to be vastly longer than the age of the Universe itself.

      Since there were no protons existing initially after the Big Bang, there must be some unknown process (that occurs only at very high energy) by which they can be created. If they can be created, then presumably they can also eventually decay by the same process, albeit very very slowly.

Comments