Elizabeth’s Simplification of Subatomic Particles!!!!!
Okay, it’s time to get this stuff straight. If I weren’t on academic team…you can be SURE that subatomic particles would be relatively low on my “gotta know” list. But..NAQT puts them rather high on theirs..so WE GOTTA KNOW IT!!!!!!
Understanding this isn’t TOO hard. JUST BELIEVE :P
First these have to be laid down.
FERMIONS & BOSONS!!!
Fermions: You have to know that fermions are particles that have a ½ integral spin (spin = instrinsic angular momentum). So, a particle made up of an odd number of Fermions is a fermion. It has a ½ integral spin.
Bosons: Bosons, however, have an integer spin. So…an EVEN number of Fermions is a Boson…
There are lots of reasons for making this distinction in spin and it has to do with a painful amount of math that is NOT necessary for getting questions. (I’m not sure what it’s actually necessary for).
Next..
Quarks and Leptons!!
Both quarks and leptons are fermions (that means they both have a ½ integral spin).
This also means that all bosons are made from an even number of quarks or leptons.
Quarks: These particles come in six “flavors”. Worry about the “flavors” later. (at the end of this break down I’ll list the flavors and charges. For now just know, Quarks make up Hadrons!!! Hadrons are made of quarks…
What are Hadrons made of?.....if you didn’t say quarks, slap yourself. Quarks experience STRONG interactions. There are four types of physical interactions: gravity, electromagnetism, weak interaction, and strong interaction. Quarks experience all four.
Leptons: Leptons, however, only experience weak interaction. They too have six flavors. I’ll get into those later.
Okay now…Hadrons, Baryons (not bosons don’t get them confused), and Mesons.
To understand Hadrons, Baryons, and Mesons, it’s necessary to go back to Quarks.
Hadrons: This is the name given to the particles that quarks make up. Quarks always exist in a hadron compisition. If there’s a quark there’s a Hadron, because Quarks rarely exist alone.
Now..Hadrons are divided into two types, a fermion and boson type.
Baryons: These are hadrons that are fermions. THREE FERMIONS make a baryon. Neutrons and Protons are baryons. This means they have ½ intergral spin :D remember?
Mesons: These are hadrons that are bosons. This means they have an integer spin.
Now to flavors and charges.
Quarks have six flavors as I mentioned before. Up, down, charm, strange, top (sometimes, "truth"), and bottom (sometimes, "beauty"). Up and down are easy to remember. The others you can group like this (Truth is stranger than fiction) for top and strange… and (Charm and Beauty) just seem for fit together…for top and charm. So there’s the six. UDTSCB.
Quarks have two different charges.
CUT flavor (charm, up, top) have a positive 2/3 charge. (positive = good = truth )
DSB flavor (down, strange, bottom) have a -1/3 charge. (negative = down + strange)
Leptons have six flavors too. Don’t get confused and buzz right after they say “six flavors” because it could be either quarks or leptons. Three of the flavors are the electron, the muon, and the tau.Each flavor is composed of a "weak doublet," which is an electron, a muon, or a tau linked with a virtually massless neutrino (neutrino: virtually massless neutral particle) An electron lepton, therefore would be a “weak doublet” of electron and a neutrino (an electron neutrino)
***Electrons are Leptons!!! Leptons are also Fermions. Electrons have a ½ integral spin!!
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This study guide was originally intended for academic teamers. But...if you've just stumbled across this GO AHEAD AND LEARN SOMETHING XDD
