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Asked by xWarlord24x to Anna, James, Joe, Leonie, Olivia on 13 Mar 2015.
Question: What is the smallest fundamental particle?
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Joe Spencer answered on 13 Mar 2015:
xWarlord24x
There’s a whole host of fundamental particles. Electrons, quarks, neutrinos, a zoo of particles that make up everything.
The smallest I know of (maybe we are yet to discover more) is the electron neutrino, it was theorised by Pauli in the 30’s but not discovered experimentally for another ~30 years!
It is the smallest because it has the lowest energy, particle physics isn’t about size like mm or distances, it’s about mass, and energy as they are the same thing because of E=mc^2. -
Olivia Lynes answered on 16 Mar 2015:
Wow I just learnt a lot about particles! In Chemistry you only really care what electrons do as they are the major particles in reactions. Really interesting to look up the different particle types though.
Comments
Joe commented on :
James, your sort of right with Fermions.
A fermion is the term used to describe a particular type of fundamental particles, ones that obey certain laws of physics (pauli exclusion principle). Fermions are another name for quarks and leptons, leptons are another name for electrons, protons neutrinos etc. it all get’s very confusing!
James commented on :
Cheers Joe,
I could remember Fermions and Bosons as fundamental particles and I remember bosons are bigger because they were the same name as the guys on ships.
You are right, it does all get very confusing, very quickly!
Joe commented on :
This helps me remember them
http://www.particlezoo.net/