Particle Physics

In this module, you will be learning about a field in physics called particle physics.

Particle Physics :-

Particle physics is the study of particles interaction. This basically means that the study of how the particles interact based on the governed forces on them. We study this by understanding the standard model of particle physics. Scientists started with the most groundbreaking discovery that the smallest particle in the universe is an atom. Later, many scientists understood that there are electrons, protons and neutrons. Then, some scientists told that there are some sub atomic particles if you eject cosmic rays into the particles. They were named using Greek letters like delta, sigma, etc. So, scientists inferred that the whole universe is made of some fundamental particles which are governed by 4 major fundamental forces.

This picture above is the standard model of particle physics. It gives information of the mass, charge and spin of the particles. The particles are divided into 3 major categories :-

1) leptons

2) quarks

3) bosons

These both leptons and quarks are together called fermions. The leptons and quarks are categorized based on the generation of the particles. This classification is observed in the standard model of particle physics which shows the mass, spin and charge of the different particles.

STANDARD MODEL OF PARTICLE PHYSICS

This is one of the key tables like the periodic table in chemistry. This model gives you a lot of information of the particles.

Based on this model, particles are classified into(as seen above)

1) Fermions - leptons and quarks

2) Bosons

Let us understand these particles one after the other.

Fermions

These are classified into leptons and quarks. These leptons and quarks are broadly classified into 3 generations which involve 6 particles.

Quarks

This is a type of elementary particle of matter. They come in red, green and blue colors. They have a certain charge. They have strong forces of attraction which leads to these colors. The colors do not come because of light but come due to the attraction forces. They interact by using electromagnetic forces.