• How is it possible to probe the subatomic world?

  • What subatomic particles make up the proton and neutron?

  • How does the discovery of antimatter and subatomic particles inform the latest models concerning the structure of matter?

In this lesson you learned that particle tracks can be interpreted to identify the charge-to-mass ratio and type of charge on subatomic particles.  By colliding particles, such as protons, at extremely high energies, the content of these particles can be probed and studied.  Current particle accelerators are among the most powerful machines ever built and are capable of causing particle collisions at energies never before experienced on Earth.

Based on particle track research and theory, the subatomic world is composed of strange ideas and particles such as antimatter, mediating particles, and the quarks that make up protons and neutrons.  Some evidence for up and down quarks is provided by beta decay and beta positive decay, which is caused by the electroweak force.

Beta Decay

Beta Positive Decay

Current theory that relates the mediating particles to the fundamental forces of electroweak and strong nuclear force are contained in the Standard Model.  In subatomic research, theory and observation interact, one leading to the other and vice versa.  Together, both theoretical and experimental physicists are working toward a grand unified theory, or theory of everything, that will bring connection to all the fundamental forces of the universe and the particles that mediate, create, and sustain them.

 

Assignment 19

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