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Particle Physics

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Radioactive Particles
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Particle Physics

Basics

The three types of 'composite particle' that make up an atom are:

Particle that orbits the nucleus: negative charge, but negligible mass compared to the nuclear particles (approximately 1/1836 as much); discovered and identified in 1897 by Manchester–born physicist J. J. Thomson Click to show or hide the answer
Nuclear particle with positive charge and mass of approximately one atomic mass unit; discovered and named in 1917 by New Zealander Joseph Rutherford (working in Cambridge) Click to show or hide the answer
The atomic number of an element is determined by the number of these in the nuclei of its atoms
Nuclear particle with zero charge and mass of approximately one atomic mass unit; discovered in 1932 by James Chadwick (born in Bollington, Cheshire) Click to show or hide the answer

Radioactive Particles

An alpha particle is effectively the nucleus of an atom of Click for more information Click to show or hide the answer
A beta particle consists of Click to show or hide the answer
A gamma ray consists of Click to show or hide the answer

Other

The three types of elementary particle (in the Standard Model of particle physics) Click to show or hide the answer
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The six 'flavours' of quark:

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The six 'flavours' of lepton:

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A first–generation (i.e. the most familiar type of) lepton, with a charge Click to show or hide the answer
A lepton with negligible mass and zero charge (three generations); emitted by the sun, passes straight through the Earth; it's said that approximately 1020 (one hundred quintillion – a quintillion being a million million million) pass through every person's body every secondClick for more information Click to show or hide the answer
Common name for quarks and leptons – the basic building blocks of matter (named after an Italian nuclear physicist, 1901–54) Click to show or hide the answer
Elementary particles that (in layman's terms) are associated with forces rather than matter Click to show or hide the answer
Generic term for all particles made up of quarks Click to show or hide the answer
Composite particle (hadron) made up of three quarks; the proton and neutron are the two most stable types of Click to show or hide the answer
The other type of hadron (other than baryons) – made up of one quark and one antiquark Click to show or hide the answer
Baryon (hadron) comprising one up quark and two down quarks Click to show or hide the answer
Baryon (hadron) comprising two up quarks and one down quark Click to show or hide the answer
Collective name for protons and neutrons Click to show or hide the answer
The last Standard Model particle to be observed – its existence was confirmed in 2016; named after a professor at Edinburgh University who was one of the first to hypothesise it (1964); nicknamed 'the God particle' Click to show or hide the answer
The basic 'unit' of light, and of all forms of electromagnetic radiation; the force carrier of the electromagnetic force. Concept developed by Einstein to explain observations that didn't fit the wave model of light Click to show or hide the answer
The anti–particle of the electron (same mass, positive charge) – a.k.a. anti–electron Click to show or hide the answer
Particle that mediates the weak force and has a charge (positive or negative) Click to show or hide the answer
Particle that mediates the weak force and has zero charge Click to show or hide the answer
Hold the protons and neutrons together in an atomic nucleus Click to show or hide the answer
Photons, W and Z bosons, and gluons, collectively Click to show or hide the answer

© Haydn Thompson 2017–22