Sub-Atomic Particles :: Physics Science Sub Atomic Particle

Introduction In Ancient Greece, many believed that everything was made up of simple particles called Atoms. They called them Atoms because they believed that they had no parts and could not be broken. This had been believed for many centuries until evidence that something smaller actually existed (the electron). Once scientists found the electron, they were not satified. Scientists kept creating new theories and testing new hypothesis' attempting to find what makes the world tick. Now, the universe's fundimental particles have seemingly been found, but scientists are still searching for a more complete answer. The sub-atomic particles that are known to exist now are a strange and vast new addition to the seemingly grand scale that is our universe we live in. There are many things left to find, create, observe, and explain, but it is human nature to attempt to do these things and find out what got us here. There are many different types of sub-atomic particle. They all can be classified down to 3 basic types: Bosons, Fermions, and Hadrons. Of these, Bosons and Fermions are fundimental particles and therefore cannot be broken down any farther. Boson is the term for a particle with a even integers as spin (0, 1, 2). Spin being the intrinsic angular momentum of a particular particle. There are 5 different known bosons. These are gluons, photons, W- bosons, W+ bosons, and Z bosons. There is one more theorized boson, the graviton, but it has not been observed yet. Bosons are known as Force-Carrier Particles, and they act as "inbetween's" for particle interaction. The most commonly observed boson is the photon. It is the force-carrier particle for the electromagnetic force. It is massless, has a spin of 1, has no color or electromagnetic charge, and travels at c (the speed of light). Gluons are the next boson of importance. Gluons are the force-carrier particles for the strong nuclear force. They are also massless, chargeless, and have a spin of 1, except they do carry a specific color charge (color charge is the indicator for the strong nuclear force). Gluons exist to keep quarks together into cohesive units with a color charge of 0. W-, W+, and Z bosons are the force-carrier particles for the weak nuclear force. Each has a specific mass, a specific electromagnetic charge and a spin of 1, but no color charge (so they do not participate in the strong force). Weak interactions are the flavor changes between particles (flavor being the specific type of particle).