Subatomic Particles

• subatomic particles are particles much smaller than atoms
• subatomic particles 2 types:
  • elementary/fundamental particle - a subatomic particle with no sub structure, thus not composed of other particles
  • composite particle - a subatomic particle that is made of more than one quark
• TODO - http://www.particleadventure.org/index.html

Subatomic Particles - Breakdown

Elementary/Fundamental Particles - subatomic particle with no sub structure, thus not composed of other particles

• Fermions - a particle that follows Fermi–Dirac statistics, obeys the Pauli exclusion principle, and have half-integer spin. building blocks of matter
  • Quarks -  interact via the strong nuclear interaction
  • Leptons - does not interact via the strong nuclear interaction
• Bosons - a particle that follows Bose–Einstein statistics and all have integer spins. also called force carrier particles which give rise to Force

Composite Particles - subatomic particle that is made of more than one quark

• Hadrons - particles composed solely of quarks or both quarks and antiquarks
  • Baryons - composite particles made of three quarks
  • Mesons - unstable subatomic particles composed of one quark and one antiquark

All the known matter particles are composites of fermions (quarks and leptons), and they interact by exchanging bosons (force carrier particles)

Subatomic Particles - Diagram

Elementary/Fundamental Particles - Standard Model & Interactions