Particle Physics - Introduction

By -

PARTICLE PHYSICS -

INTRODUCTION



-----------------------------------------

What is Particle physics?
Let me give a hint by telling you what particles are?
Everything in our universe is made up of extremely small components known as particles.
Now did you get it?

Particle Physics is nothing but the study of how our universe was made and what our universe is constituted of.

To prove their existence and see how they behave, scientists observe them until the particles leave a sign.
Often, instead of waiting for the particles to leave a sign, they make particles by colliding known particles.

How?

Well, the accelerators speed up the known particles almost to the speed of light. The particles collide and release massive energy, which results in the creation of new particles.

This is why Particle physics is also known as High Energy Physics.

At present, there are 17 particles that have been identified. The theory that describes them is known as the Standard Model. Each particle has its own properties.

The Standard model explains many things like -
  • About light and how we can see
  • How atoms are formed and how they behave
  • How electricity works
No experiment has ever proven the Standard Model "WRONG". Yet, we know it is wrong. 
Why?
Its goal is to describe EVERYTHING.

But there is a lot it does not tell us about.
It does not tell us about -
  • Gravity
  • Dark matter - which makes up about 27% of the universe
  • and much more...
Now the question that comes is, how can we make it better?
  • By conducting more experiments
  • We need to be clear about what we are looking for
  • Have more ideas, think outside the box
  • Find possible solutions to problems in the Standard Model

Thus, for particle physics, both - theory and experiments are needed.

-----------------------------------------


View more structured order of the articles here -

Discover More:

-----------------------------------------

Feel free to ask/share anything additional in the comments section!

I am still learning Particle physics, but will try my best to answer your questions :)

Kindly let me know about any errors here.

You can also share anything additional for this article here.

View the next article here -

View more structured order of the articles here -

Discover More:

See more articles here -

Solve brain teasers! View my other blog here-

With Warm Wishes,
Lavanya




Comments

  1. Lavanya Garg12 December 2021 at 13:35

    Hello!
    Please feel free to comment your thoughts and additional information on this topic!
    Since this is an educational blog, kindly refrain from spamming/unrelated talks.

    Thanks :)

    With Warm Wishes,
    Lavanya

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What are Quarks, Leptons and Bosons?

By -
    Table of contents  WHAT ARE  QUARKS, LEPTONS  AND  BOSONS? View my previous article here - How were Neutrinos Discovered? View the next article here - The Fundamental Forces ----------------------------------------- Here is a brief overview of what are quarks, leptons and bosons - families of particles that make up the Standard Model! (Based on what has been discussed so far).  * ADDITIONAL * -  A fermion is any particle that has an odd half-integer (like 1/2, 3/2, and so forth) spin.  Quarks  and  leptons , as well as most composite particles, like  protons  and  neutrons , are fermions. QUARKS: Quarks are subatomic particles that are found in protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus. There are 6 quarks .  Up quark and Down quark belong to the first generation. Charm quark and Strange quark belong to the second generation. Top quark and Bottom quark belong to the third generation. The second and third generation particles are more massive and unstable when compared to the
Read more

Cosmic Rays

By -
Image
    Table of contents  COSMIC RAYS View my previous post here - The Survival of a Neutron View the next article here - (Coming soon!) ----------------------------------------- Cosmic Rays are super fast subatomic particles "raining" down on us from space.  These high-energy particles arriving from outer space are mainly (89%) protons – nuclei of hydrogen, the lightest and most common element in the universe – but they also include nuclei of helium (10%) and heavier nuclei (1%), all the way up to uranium. (Source of information: CERN) Their origin remains to be a mystery.  These are radiations or rather little bits of atoms whizzing by us, even through us, all the time! We cannot feel them, because they don't affect the human body . However, they do show their presence in different ways. For instance, they cause computers to malfunction . Scientists have been studying cosmic rays since the early 1900s. At the beginning of the 20th century, around 1911, a physicist, Vict
Read more