Science AMA Series: I’m Paul Percival, a Professor of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University. My research involves the exotic atom muonium. AMA.

Muonium is the single-electron atom with the positive muon as nucleus. From the chemical point of view you can think of it as being a light isotope of hydrogen -- the proton has been replaced by the muon, whose mass is 9 times lighter. To study muonium you need an intense beam of spin-polarized muons, something only available in a few places in the world. One of them is TRIUMF, in Vancouver, Canada, where I carry out my experiments. Although TRIUMF is described as “Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics”, I apply muon spin spectroscopy to chemical problems, in particular in the area of free radical chemistry.

I'll be back at 1 pm EDT (5 pm UTC, 10 am PDT) to answer your questions, ask me anything!

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