Denis Teeter

The electron’s minimum lifespan is 5 quintillion times longer than the current age of the cosmos. Electrons are the ultimate survivors of the subatomic world, boasting a minimum lifespan of 66,000 yottayears—a duration so vast it effectively defies human comprehension. To put that into perspective, these fundamental particles are expected to outlast the current age of the universe by a factor of five quintillion. While humanity measures history in centuries, electrons operate on a scale that makes the 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang look like a mere blink of an eye. This extreme longevity is the bedrock of physical reality, ensuring that the atoms forming our world remain stable and intact across cosmic eons. The secret to this relative immortality lies in the fundamental laws of physics, specifically the conservation of electrical charge. Because the electron is the lightest particle with a negative charge, it has no lower state to decay into without violating core physical principles. High-precision experiments, such as those conducted with the Borexino detector, have failed to witness a single electron perish, leading many physicists to believe they may be perfectly stable and live forever. This cosmic endurance guarantees that as long as these laws hold, the building blocks of matter will provide a permanent, unchanging foundation for the universe as we know it. source: BBC Science Focus Magazine. (2023). How long do electrons live? BBC Science Focus Magazine.