Elementary Particles - I
The Uncuttable |
Hey there, if you are following my posts you should remember about Democritus .
To a degree Democritus was correct: 'Matter is made of uncuttable pieces. But instead of Atomos we call these Elementary Particles. We are quite confident but not absolutely sure that the elementary particles are uncuttable. Electrons are elementary particles. However, protons and neutrons are not elementary particles; each is made up of three quarks that are elementary particles.
Particles Are Exactly Identical
One of the most important characteristics of an elementary particle is that each particle of each type is exactly identical For example, electrons are completely indistinguishable from one another. This does not mean that the electrons are very similar like "identical twins". In fact, nature herself cannot differentiate between any two electrons in the entire universe. As we will discuss in some upcoming posts, if there were even the smallest difference between electrons, atoms would collapse and life would not exist.
Same types of elementary particles are not twins but exactly same (these kids are) |
Even though protons and neutrons are not elementary particles, they are also identical to all particles of their own types. This is because there is only one way to combine three quarks to make a proton and one another way to make a neutron. This characteristic of particles being exactly identical is remarkably outstanding.
Fermions: Constituents Of Matter
Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) |
Particles and divided into two groups: fermions and bosons. Bosons are the carriers of nature's forces and will be discussed in an upcoming post. Fermions are the building blocks of matter and are named after American physicist Enrico Fermi. He received the 1938 Nobel Prize in physics for his discoveries regarding the physics of nucleus.
Fermions are "antisocial" by behavior. They don't share their "turf" with any of their own kind. This trait gives matter its rigidity. Material objects are difficult to compress because they are made up of fermions that resist being squeezed together. If they didn't have this antisocial behavior, all Earth's atoms and all our body's atoms would collapse as gravity pulled everything together.
Division of Fermions with generation groups |
Fermions are divided into two types (1) Quarks, which participate in the strong nuclear force and (2) Leptons which do not.
Elementary Fermions comprises a set of twelve particles 6 Quarks and 6 Leptons. They are in turn grouped into three generations, each containing two Quarks and two Leptons. We will discuss the special use here of word generations. (Read on)
Quarks and composition of protons |
Quarks
Particles with the strong force (Jedi?) are all made of Quarks, the most elementary of the strongly interacting particles. The six Quarks are given in the figure:
The names are a bit fanciful but believe me, they have very little to do with the characteristics of these particles. None is more charming neither strange than other. Two up Quarks and one down Quark make a proton; two down Quarks and a down Quark make a neutron.
This much for this part of Elementary Particles, but don't worry I would be right back with the second part in this series. In the next part of Elementary Particles, we will discuss abut charged leptons, neutrinos, first generation rule, and will discuss the possibility of the presence of more elementary particle.
Until then be happy and keep experimenting.😊
0 comments