Fundamentals of Physics Extended (10th Edition)

Published by Wiley
ISBN 10: 1-11823-072-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-11823-072-5

Chapter 44 - Quarks, Leptons, and the Big Bang - Questions - Page 1362: 1a

Answer

The conservation of energy law would not be violated.

Work Step by Step

An electron has a rest energy of $0.511~MeV$ A neutrino has a rest energy of approximately $1\times 10^{-7}~MeV$, so two neutrinos have a total rest energy of approximately $2\times 10^{-7}~MeV$ Since the rest energy of an electron is greater than the total rest energy of two neutrinos, the remaining energy can be transformed into kinetic energy of the two neutrinos. Therefore, if an electron decayed into two neutrinos, the conservation of energy law would not be violated.
Update this answer!

You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this answer.

Update this answer

After you claim an answer you’ll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.