Question

Question: imagine the decay of a very unusual particle that has a charge of Q = +24e. If it decays into 12 particles, 3 of which have electrical charges of +2e each, what is the collective charge of the other 9 particles?

Answer 1

According to the law of charge conservation,

The net charge of the system before and after the decay should remain constant.

As the charge before the decay is +24e.

Thus, the net charge after the decay should be +24e.

Given that, the charge on 3 particles out of 12 is +2e each.

Thus, collective charge of the other 9 particles is,

$\begin{gathered} q=Q-3(+2e) \\ q=24e-6e \\ q=+18e \end{gathered}$

Thus, the collective charge on the other 9 particles is +18e.