Particles and Quantum

• What are the two main groups of particles in particle physics?

  Hadrons and leptons
• What are the fundamental particles that belong to the lepton group?

  Electron, muon, and neutrino
• What is the charge of a neutrino?


  Neutrinos have no charge
• How do the lepton numbers of particles and their antiparticles differ?

  Particles have a lepton number of +1, while antiparticles have a lepton number of -1
• What are the two types of neutrinos mentioned?

  Electron neutrinos and muon neutrinos
• What are hadrons composed of?

  Hadrons are composed of quarks
• What are the two types of hadrons?

  Baryons and mesons
• How many quarks make up a baryon?

  Three quarks
• How many quarks make up a meson?

  One quark and one antiquark
• What are the three flavors of quarks mentioned?

  Up, down, and strange
• What is the charge of an up quark?

  +2/3
• What is the charge of a down quark?

  • 1/3
• What is the charge of a strange quark?

  • 1/3
• What is the strangeness of a strange quark?

  • 1
• What is the strangeness of an antistrange quark?

  +1
• What is the baryon number of baryons?

  +1
• What is the baryon number of antibaryons?

  • 1
• What are the compositions of neutrons and protons in terms of quarks?

  Neutrons are up, down, down; protons are up, up, down
• What are pions and kaons in terms of strangeness?

  Pions do not have strangeness, while kaons do
• What is the exchange particle for the electromagnetic force?

  The photon
• What is the exchange particle for the weak nuclear force?

  The W and Z bosons
• What is the exchange particle for the strong nuclear force?

  The gluon
• What does the strong nuclear force do?

  It holds nuclei together
• What is the range of the strong force?

  3 to 4 femtometers (fm)
• What happens to the strong force at 0.5 femtometers?

  It switches from attractive to repulsive
• What must be conserved in any interaction involving particles?

  Charge, baryon number, and lepton number
• What is added in a beta minus decay equation to balance the lepton number?

  An anti-electron neutrino
• What type of interaction is represented by Feynman diagrams?

  Weak interactions
• What happens to a down quark in a neutron during beta minus decay?

  It decays into an up quark
• What must be true for any interaction involving leptons?

  It must be a weak interaction
• What must be true for interactions involving hadrons if strangeness is conserved?

  It must be a strong interaction
• What happens when strangeness is not conserved in an interaction?

  It must be a weak interaction
• What is the process called when a K0 meson decays into pi+ and pi- mesons?

  Weak interaction
• What is the charge-to-mass ratio of a particle?

  Charge divided by mass
• What is the charge of an electron?

  1. 6 × 10^-19 C
• How do you calculate the charge-to-mass ratio for an electron?

  Charge divided by mass
• What is the term for any particle or wave emitted by something?

  Radiation
• What type of radiation is emitted by the nucleus of an atom?

  Gamma radiation
• What can gamma rays do to atoms?

  They can ionize atoms
• What is alpha decay?

  Emission of an alpha particle (two protons and two neutrons)