How To Be Smart EXPLORING PHYSICS

I will describe the standard model of physics— Its really neat and compact.

There are six classifications of fermions, which happen to be divided into three classes or columns: Type I, Type II, and Type III.

I will list the particles in each row.

The first half is quarks, the second half is leptons.

All fermions have a spin of 1/2.

Up, Charm, and Top quarks have a charge of 2/3.

Down, Strange, and Bottom quarks have a charge of -1/3.

Now we begin the leptons.

Electrons, muons, and tau particles (which are leptons) have a charge of -1.

Electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos, and tau neutrinos have a charge of zero.

Now we pass on to the category called the gauge bosons. This only contains four classifications, so I will just read them.

All of these have a spin of 1, which is larger than 1/2.

Photons, gluons, Z bosons, and W bosons.

As an added detail, all of these have a charge of zero except the W boson, which is +/- 1.

(Listed from top to bottom next to the fermions).

Finally, we get to the scalar boson, and there is only one in this category, the Higgs boson, which has no charge and no spin.

There are also some additional facts about mass that are a little harder to remember, but at least you know that as far as this diagram of the Standard Model, all that is left is mass.

Now, think about this a minute.

All these particles, well most of them, are charges swirling, reacting, and sometimes reacting, sometimes annihilating. You might know about this if you are familiar with schrodinger's equation.

How do we know what they are all doing? Well, we have to know everything about them. But it turns out, according to quantum mechanics, we can't know!

We're half-blind, as it were, when it comes to the smallest particles. We can see the big, macro-world effects, but when it comes to the littlest, tiniest particles, it breaks down into indeterminate probability.

And here is the thing—we know only it's wave equation or its particle location, not both—never both, unless someone determines —or finds—a new physics.

Very Platonic!

Not at all like biology!

Its like its in my head! That's what people say when they have it memorized!

Also:

“Virtual photons carry electromagnetic force, gluons carry the strong force, and the Z and W bosons together carry the weak force.” —Matthew Pharr