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Conservation Rules Qs

This document provides an overview of conservation laws relevant to particle interactions, focusing on charge, baryon number, lepton number, and strangeness. It includes a worked example demonstrating how to assess whether a particle reaction can occur based on these conservation laws. Additionally, the document contains questions for practice related to particle decay and conservation principles.

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5 views3 pages

Conservation Rules Qs

This document provides an overview of conservation laws relevant to particle interactions, focusing on charge, baryon number, lepton number, and strangeness. It includes a worked example demonstrating how to assess whether a particle reaction can occur based on these conservation laws. Additionally, the document contains questions for practice related to particle decay and conservation principles.

Uploaded by

savithnishitha5
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2 Quarks and leptons

AQA Physics Support

Conservation rules in particle interactions

Specification references
• 3.2.1.7 Application of conservation laws

Introduction
This worksheet covers the laws of conservation that you need to know when
considering particle interactions. There is a worked example to help you answer
questions in a clear and logical way. If you need support in understanding how the
particles are related to one another and how they can interact then you may wish to
look at ‘2 Support: Constructing a particle family tree’ and ‘2 Support: Particle family
tree questions’.

Learning objectives
After completing the worksheet you should be able to:
• understand that particles can have lepton numbers, baryon numbers, charge,
and strangeness
• determine baryon number, charge, and strangeness for the fundamental
particles
• apply the four conservation laws to possible particle interactions, to assess
whether they are possible.

Background
In order to decide whether a reaction can take place we have to look at the
conservation of:
• charge (Q)
• baryon number (B)
• lepton number (L)
• strangeness (S).
Consider the reaction equation and calculate the totals of each on the left-hand side
(LHS) and right-hand side (RHS) of the equation.
If they are all conserved, the totals of the LHS and RHS are equal and the reaction
can take place.
Strangeness is allowed to vary by ± 1 if the weak interaction is taking place.
Remember that to find the values for charge, baryon number, lepton number, and
strangeness you can consult your family tree and its labels.
• Charge of all particles is shown by sign + or – or 0.
• Only baryons have a baryon number = ± 1; other particles have baryon
number = 0.

© Oxford University Press 2015 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original 1
2 Quarks and leptons
AQA Physics Support

• Only leptons have a lepton number = ± 1; other particles have lepton


number = 0.
• Only kaons have strangeness; all other particles have strangeness = 0.

Worked example
The decay shown in the equation p → n + e+ + v e cannot occur because it violates
two conservation laws.
State the two conservation laws that are violated.
Step 1
Identify Q, B, L, and S for each particle and put it into the equation.
Q 1→0+1+0
B 1 → –1 + 0 + 0
L 0→0–1–1
S 0→0+0+0
Step 2
Decide which equations balance (LHS = RHS) and which equations don’t balance
(LHS ≠ RHS).
Q 1→0+1+0 yes
B 1 → –1 + 0 + 0 no
L 0→0–1–1 no
S 0→0+0+0 yes
Step 3
B and L don’t balance so baryon and lepton number conservation laws are violated.

Questions
1 The equation p → n + e+ + ve represents the emission of a positron from a proton.
Energy and momentum are conserved in this emission.
Determine the other quantities that are conserved in this emission. (4 marks)

2 In positron emission an up quark undergoes the following change:


u → d + e+ + ve
Show that charge, lepton number, and baryon number are conserved in this decay. (3 marks)

© Oxford University Press 2015 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original 2
2 Quarks and leptons
AQA Physics Support

3 The neutral kaon, which is a meson of strangeness +1, may decay in the
following way: K0 → π + + π –.
a Apart from conservation of energy and momentum, state two other
conservation laws obeyed in this decay and one law that is not obeyed. (4 marks)
b State the quark composition for all the particles involved in the K0 decay. (3 marks)

4 The particle X, which is a strange particle, decays in the following way:


X → π – + p.
a State whether X is a meson, a baryon, or a lepton. (1 mark)
b Use the conservation laws to decide whether each of the following decays of
the π – is possible. Give a reason for your answer.
• π – → e+ + ve
• π – → p + e– + e+
(4 marks)

5 a The negative kaon, K–, has a strangeness of –1.


State the quark composition of K–. (2 marks)
b The kaon, K–, may decay into a muon and an antineutrino in the following way:
K– → μ – + v μ
i Copy and complete the following table as indicated in the first row. (4 marks)
K– μ– ve
charged particle yes yes no
hadron
meson
baryon
lepton
ii In the decay shown above, charge is conserved. Give another quantity
that is conserved and a quantity that is not conserved in the decay of K–. (2 marks)

© Oxford University Press 2015 www.oxfordsecondary.co.uk/acknowledgements


This resource sheet may have been changed from the original 3

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