niktemadur@lemmy.world to Ask Science@lemmy.worldEnglish · 9 days agoIn particle decay, is there a difference when they say "average lifetime" vs "half life"? Also: in the Large Hadron Collider, how long does a particle collision event (or experiment) last?message-squaremessage-square6fedilinkarrow-up126arrow-down11
arrow-up125arrow-down1message-squareIn particle decay, is there a difference when they say "average lifetime" vs "half life"? Also: in the Large Hadron Collider, how long does a particle collision event (or experiment) last?niktemadur@lemmy.world to Ask Science@lemmy.worldEnglish · 9 days agomessage-square6fedilink
minus-squareAbouBenAdhem@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up6·edit-28 days ago“Average” is ambiguous—it could mean arithmetic mean, geometric mean, median, mode, etc. The half-life is equivalent to the median lifetime, but the name is more self-explanatory (and emphasizes that half the radiation is still there).
minus-squareRagnorlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up1·19 hours ago“Average” and “median” are not the same thing. Anyone who uses those about the same thing have misunderstood the concepts.
“Average” is ambiguous—it could mean arithmetic mean, geometric mean, median, mode, etc.
The half-life is equivalent to the median lifetime, but the name is more self-explanatory (and emphasizes that half the radiation is still there).
“Average” and “median” are not the same thing. Anyone who uses those about the same thing have misunderstood the concepts.