Question

A proton has enough mass energy to decay into a shower made

up of electrons, neutrinos, and their antiparticles. Which of the following

conservation laws would necessarily be violated if it did: electron lepton number or baryon number?

Short answer

The Baryon number will be violated.

Step-by-step solution

Concept used to solve the question.

• Conservation of lepton number:

In all particle interactions, the net lepton number is conserved.

• Conservation of baryon number:

In all particle interactions, the net baryon number is conserved.

Finding which conservation law would be violated

As we know, the electron lepton number of protons is zero. If there is an equal number of electrons and their anti-particles, the lepton number could be zero.

And the Baryon number of the proton is one and of other particles zero. Therefore Baryon number will be violated.