Lobstrosity

Could you be a bit more specific in defining what you mean by "radiation"? Do you mean nuclear radiation such as alpha, beta, and gamma? Do you mean blackbody radiation (i.e. the glow objects give off that relates to their temperature, such as the light given off by a piece of molten steel)? Do you mean dipole radiation (i.e. the light emitted from an oscillating dipole due to the acceleration of charge, such as the blue light we receive from the sky)?


Yes, the modern picture of the atom is fully embedded in quantum theory. When you get down to the small stuff weird things happen. In general physics is pretty cool (at least I think so). Feel free to ask whatever you want and I'll try to answer to the best of my abilities. I'm sure plenty of others would be willing to field your questions here, too.

Wyz_sub10

I always thought electrons were leptons. If they are fermions, does that mean they are not leptons (and if not, what are leptons?) And if they are, does that mean all leptons are fermions?

I always get confused when it comes to particles.

Shadowy Man

Fermions: elementary particles with half integer spin. Fermions obey Fermi-Dirac statistics. All particles are either fermions or bosons. Leptons and baryons are fermions.

Leptons: A collective name given to fermions that do not take part in strong interactions. These include electrons, muons, neutrinos, etc. and their antiparticles. Leptons do not have quark substructure.

MortalWombat

I have found The Particle Adventure to be most helpful in explaining the fundamentals of subatomic particles and forces.

ComestibleVenom

As Mr.Garrison of SouthPark said
"...That's ok. There are no stupid questions, just stupid people."

Wyz_sub10

Thanks! That answers my question quite perfectly.

DBT

My dumb questions are, what is the nature of the matter compressed within a singularity, as I understand it all structure is broken down?
Also what is the nature of the energy released in the first flash of the big bang? plain heat or something more exotic?

Veovis

I'm no physicist, (hell, I haven't had high school physics yet) but I've read up a bit in physics and can tell you a bit about fundametal particles.

Leptons:
Electron ----> Muon ----> Tau
Electron Neutrino ----> Muon Neutrino ----> Tau Neutrino

Quarks:
Up Quark ----> Charm ---->Top
Down Quark ----> Strange ---->Bottom

(Where heavier versions of the particles are to the right.)

Quarks come in six "flavors." (even though you can't taste them ) They are up, charm, top, down, strange, and bottom, as in the chart above. There may even be more that I'm not aware of. Each flavor also comes in a "color" (Again, you can't see them, so they don't have real color). They are red, blue, or green.

Im guessing both quarks and leptons are fermions?

Quarks make up baryons, including, but not limited to the proton and neutron. Proton = 2 ups, 1 down; Neutron = 2 downs, 1 up.

There are also the antiparticles of each. The charges are reversed in the antiparticles, e.g. positron = anti-electron.

Also, there are force-carrying particles called bosons that 'transmit' one of the four basic forces.

Gravity - Graviton (Scientes haven't proven this one, AFAIK.)
Electromagnetism - Photon
Strong Nuclear Force (Holds atomic nuclei together) - Strong Boson
Weak Nuclear Force (Responsible for radioactive decay?) - Weak Boson

Again, I am not a physics student, so would anyone more knowedgeable in physics correct/add to this please?

And I hope this helps!

Primordial Groove

Stupid is as stupid does.

-F. Gump

Primordial Groove

Very cool. What are these fundamental particles comprised of? Does the buck stop here (in a manner of speaking), or do we continue to string or M theory?

Just to clarify, these fundamental particles, at this point in time, are the foundation of everything?
(I am keeping in mind that this theory may change with further research and discovery).