A level physics - Particles and Quantum phenomena

• The main constituents of an atom are the proton, neutron, and electron.
• Strangeness is not always conserved in a weak interaction.
• Strange particles are produced through the strong interaction and decay through the weak interaction.
• The strangeness value of a strange quark is -1.
• Specific charge is defined as the charge to mass ratio: Specific charge = charge / mass.
• The specific charge of a proton is 1.6 x 10^-19/1.67 x 10^-27 = 9.58 x 10^7 C/kg.
• The letter associated with a proton number is Z.
• A nucleon is a constituent of the nucleus: a proton or a neutron.
• The letter representing nucleon number is A.
• The correct notation for an isotope is X A Z X Z A.
• Carbon dating uses the proportion of carbon-14 in a material to estimate its age.
• Examples of baryons include the proton (uud) and the neutron (ddu).
• The pion can be an exchange particle for the strong nuclear force.
• Both baryons and mesons are hadrons, which are made of 2 or more quarks held together by the strong nuclear force.
• Examples of leptons include the electron, muon, and neutrino, and their antiparticles.
• The pion and kaon are both examples of mesons.
• The proton is the only stable baryon and all baryons will eventually decay into protons.
• A muon decays into an electron.
• A kaon decays into a pion.
• Energy, charge, baryon number, lepton number, momentum, and strangeness are conserved in particle interactions.
• The strong nuclear force is the fundamental force that keeps the nucleus stable by counteracting the electrostatic force of repulsion between protons.
• Pair production is when a gamma ray photon is converted into a particle-antiparticle pair.
• Weak nuclear interaction occurs when quark character changes, affecting all types of particles.
• The minimum energy of a photon required to make a proton-antiproton pair is 2 x proton rest energy 2 x 938.257 = 1876.514 MeV.
• The exchange particle of the weak nuclear force is the W boson (W+ or W-).
• The four fundamental forces are Gravity, Electromagnetic, Weak nuclear, and Strong nuclear.
• When a particle and antiparticle meet, it's called annihilation, where the mass of the particle and antiparticle is converted back to energy in the form of 2 gamma ray photons which go in opposite directions to conserve momentum.
• The virtual photon is the exchange particle of the electromagnetic force.
• The electromagnetic force acts on charged objects, for example when a positively charged ball repels another positively charged ball.
• The antiparticle of π0 (pion with 0 charge) is itself.
• Hadrons are particles affected by the strong nuclear force.
• Beta minus decay is when a neutron turns into a proton, the atom releases an electron and an anti-electron neutrino.
• Nuclei which have too many of either protons or neutrons or both are unstable.
• Beta minus decay is a process where a neutron decays to a proton by the weak interaction, changing the quark character from udd to uud.
• The antiparticle of an electron is a positron.
• For each particle there is an antiparticle with the same rest energy and mass but all other properties are the opposite of its respective particle.
• The existence of the neutrino was hypothesised when the energy of particles after beta decay was lower than before, a particle with 0 charge (to conserve charge) and negligible mass must carry away this excess energy, this particle is the neutrino.
• The range of the strong force is repulsive up to 0.5fm, attractive from 0.5-3fm, and negligible past 3fm.
• Every particle has a antiparticle.
• Alpha decay is a process where a nucleus emits a helium nucleus formed of 2 protons and 2 neutrons.