I wrote: On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 4:18 PM, Andy Findlay <[email protected]>wrote: > > I wasn't aware that hydrogen was capable of beta decay. >> > > Beta minus decay is possible under extreme conditions. But you would need > to temporarily place the hydrogen you wanted to decay on a core-collapsing > star. >
On second thought, β- decay isn't correct. I'm having a hard time saying for sure exactly what kind of beta decay it is. I don't imagine it's the normal inverse beta decay (inner shell electron capture), since there are probably few inner shell electrons hanging around. But β+ decay implies positron emission, and I don't see evidence of that. Wikipedia refers to it as "reversed beta-decay" in one place. The reaction seems to be: p + e- → N + v Eric
