Particle Physics: a Summary

I did a little bit of study into the inner workings of the particle. Then wrote my own summary of what I had read. Can anyone tell me, is my understanding correct?

So I was surprised (Not really.) when I found out recently that electrons, protons, and neutrons are not the smallest things to exist in an atom.

So INSIDE the nucleus there are protons, and neutrons. An even number(Unless an isotopic variant of the common element.)of both, except in Hydrogen, where there is 1 proton, and no neutrons.

A neutron (and protons too.) are composed of smaller particles called quarks. These quarks come in 6 different varieties!
2 light weight quarks, called up quarks (2/3 charge.) and down quarks (-1/3 Charge). Up quarks are created by the particle decay of it's more massive counter parts who carry the same charge: Charm, and the larger Top.

Down quarks are created by the particle decay of it's more massive counter parts who carry the same charge: Strange, and the larger Bottom.

A neutron is composed of 1 UP Quark(2/3) and 2 DOWN Quarks(-1/3) So: 2/3 + (-1/3 + -1/3) = 0 Charge
A proton has the opposite, 1 DOWN and 2 UP So: -1/3 + (2/3+2/3) = -1/3 + 4/3 = +1 Charge
But how about the electrons we see zooming around the nucleus? How are they made up?

So it turns out there are these things we named Gauge Bosons. These are particles that actually carry forces between other particles(Quarks, Leptons, ect.) These particles are actually small bundles of energy! There are 4 types of Gauge Bosons, but only 1 has any type of charge: Photon, Gluon, W And Z Bosons. Now, these 4 types of energy pockets, or force carriers, serve different purposes within the atom itself. The gluons actually serve as the bond between quarks! They "glu" them together in-order to create the larger picture, Protons and Neutrons.

The photons serve as less of a bond, and more or a connector for the quarks. They allow electromagnetic forces to interact with the quarks and therefore the protons or neutrons, while it gluons are more or less allows something we call Strong Nuclear Force (Pretty much sub atomic gravitation.) to occur between quarks.

W and Z Bosons are pretty much the same: Z Bosons have no charge, and are only there to help conserve energy transfer between Positive and Negative W Bosons. These Bosons are responsible for Weak Nuclear Force transfer. The reason these Bosons are the most important part of explaining the Standard model of the atom is that the three basic particles (electrons, protons, and neutrons.) are composed of Quarks (protons and neutrons.) or Leptons (Electrons) Quarks and Leptons are fermions, or particles that are affected by weak nuclear force. Once three quarks create a proton, or neutron, they become Hadrons, or particles that are affected by Strong nuclear force.

So, electrons are actually CREATED AS A BIPRODUCT when W Bosons allow the transfer of weak nuclear force, to act on quarks. depending on if the charge W is positive or negative will determine weather the biproduct is an electron, or a positron. The charge of W will also determine if the quark is UP or DOWN. Because W's charge determines UP or DOWN, it ultimately determines whether the end result is a proton, or a neutron.

3 Quarks (Determined by energy transfer of small nuclear forces from the W+/- Bosons) bond together by Gluons, to create protons and neutrons, this creates the nucleus. The bi-product of energy transfers (Radioactive decay) within the nucleus creates electrons that always have a negative charge.
Why is the electron always negative? The true answer is, it's not, sometimes it's positive! When it's positive, we call it a positron.

So, if a Boson within 3 quarks of a proton (1 down, 2 up) allows a transfer of energy that changes the UP(+2/3) quark to a DOWN (-1/3)quark. The total charge of that proton becomes 0, and it is now a neutron! (Because a proton is +1 charge, and when the UP becomes DOWN, the change is charge is -1) If this is the case, the biproduct is a positron (+1 charge emitted from the atom as a biproduct of the weak force that changed the proton into a neutron.) If it where the opposite, the biproduct would be +1, or lose a negative charge, and would be an electron.

Gluons, no T.

And star and flag.

originally posted by: Kharron
Gluons, no T.

And star and flag.

You can welcome me to the Gluon Mandela Universe now.

I honestly had no clue.. you'd think I would have noticed from a few hours of reading.. but I guess I just kept sticking the T in there mentally. x.x

a reply to: DeadCat

Seems pretty much legit, aside from the aforementioned spelling error.

And to be fair, it is much more common to the the word Gluten than the word Gluon. Also, just a word to the wise, although I am sure you knew already...

Most physics terminology has not yet found its way into the standard spell checker dictionary, so when dealing with these matters, you can expect to see lots of little red lines under things that your uppity computer has decided are spelled incorrectly, when in actual fact they are perfectly fine.

My understanding of a photon is more of an interaction or wave function between electrons. Do you know of any studies or papers that describe the photon effects within the nucleus (protons, neutrons, ect...)?

originally posted by: DeadCat
So I was surprised (Not really.) when I found out recently that electrons, protons, and neutrons are not the smallest things to exist in an atom.

Protons and neutrons are not the smallest, but nothing that we know of is smaller than electrons.

But how about the electrons we see zooming around the nucleus? How are they made up?

We haven't found anything else more fundamental than electrons so far. However at one time the same could be said of the proton and neutron, so I suppose that means we can't be sure nothing else will ever be found, but I'll be surprised if it happens with electrons.

The bi-product of energy transfers (Radioactive decay) within the nucleus creates electrons that always have a negative charge.

Radioactive decay can create most commonly alpha, beta and gamma radiation, but for some reason we call the electrons beta particles when they result from radioactive decay, perhaps because they have high energy and to denote the radioactive source. Alpha particles are like a helium nucleus, and gamma radiation is like electromagnetic energy.

The particle zoo is quite complicated but it looks like you made some progress in trying to make some sense out of it.

a reply to: DeadCat

For an interesting read without the need for higher math, try "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Princeton Science Library)Oct 26, 2014 by Richard P. Feynman and A. Zee." It is an update of Feynman's original book. Feynman has great ability to explain physics to non-physicists.

Looks alright, did a slow read

Most of these 'bonds' are not really bonds and more probability functions, like the 3 quarks kinda exist within a fuzzy volume, theoretically due to the exchange of gluons between them. This is a sort of binding energy which means protons and neutrons have different rest mass compared to their constituent parts.

Only thing you missed out was Neutrinos, which are Leptons, there are 3 generations, matching with the electron, muon and tau, which also have their own antiparticles.

Neutrinos are interesting because they have theoretically very low mass and do a weird thing which is to oscillate in flavour as they propagate.