What are the two main groups of sub-atomic particles?
Fermions and bosons
What are fermions?
Particles that are very small and light, including leptons and hadrons.
What are bosons responsible for?
Mediating forces between matter.
Name a well-known lepton.
Electron (e)
What is the charge of a neutrino?
No charge
What particles make up hadrons?
Quarks and antiquarks
What is a baryon?
A hadron made up of three quarks.
What is a meson?
A hadron made up of one quark and one antiquark.
What is the role of gluons?
Mediating the strong nuclear force between quarks.
What do W and Z bosons mediate?
The weak nuclear force between leptons.
What is the graviton?
The exchange particle for the force of gravity.
What is the photon responsible for?
Mediating the electromagnetic force.
What happens when a particle collides with its antiparticle?
They annihilate each other.
What is the antiparticle of an electron?
Positron
How are protons and neutrons made up in terms of quarks?
Protons: two up quarks and one down quark; Neutrons: two down quarks and one up quark.
What is the charge of an up quark?
+2/3
What is the charge of a down quark?
-1/3
What is the significance of neutrinos in beta decay?
They account for the missing energy and momentum in the decay process.
What is the charge of a muon?
-1
What is the charge of a tau particle?
-1
What is an example of a baryon?
Proton or neutron
What is an example of a meson?
Pion or kaon
What is the role of the electron neutrino?
To balance the charge in beta decay.
What is the relationship between quarks and antiquarks?
Antiquarks have the opposite charge to their respective quarks.
