The particles that make up the atoms can be imagined in different ways - for example, in the form of round dust particles. They are so small that it is impossible to consider each such speck of dust separately. All the substance that is in the surrounding world consists of such particles. What are those particles that make up the atoms?
Definition
The subatomic particle is one of those "bricks" of which the whole world is built. These particles include protons and neutrons, which are part of atomic nuclei. Also in this category are electrons revolving around nuclei. In other words, subatomic particles in physics are protons, neutrons and electrons. In the world familiar to humans, as a rule, particles of a different kind are not found - they live extremely little. When their century ends, they decay into ordinary particles.
The number of those subatomic particles that live relatively shortly, to date, is in the hundreds. Their number is so great that scientists no longer use ordinary names to denote them. Like stars, they are often assigned numerical and letter designations.
Main characteristics
The most important characteristics of any subatomic particle include spin, electric charge, and mass. Since the weight of a particle is often related to mass, some of the particles are traditionally called “heavy”. The equation that Einstein derived (E = mc2) indicates that the mass of a subatomic particle directly depends on its energy and speed. As for the electric charge, it is always a multiple of the fundamental unit. For example, if the proton charge is +1, then the electron charge is -1. However, some of the subatomic particles, for example, a photon or neutrino, do not have an electric charge at all.
An important characteristic is the particle lifetime. More recently, scientists were convinced that electrons, photons, as well as neutrinos and protons, are completely stable, and their lifetime is almost endless. However, this is not quite true. A neutron, for example, remains stable only until it is "released" from the nucleus of an atom. After that, his life on average is 15 minutes. All unstable particles undergo a process of quantum decay, which can never be completely predictable.
Particle research
The atom was considered indivisible - until its structure was discovered. About a century ago, Rutherford made his famous experiments, which consisted in bombarding a thin sheet with a stream of alpha particles. It turned out that the atoms of the substance are almost empty. And in the center of the atom is everything that we call the nucleus of an atom - it is about a thousand times smaller than the atom itself. At that time, scientists believed that an atom consists of two types of particles - a nucleus and electrons.
Over time, scientists have a question: why do the proton, electron and positron stick together and do not decay in different directions under the influence of Coulomb forces? And also for scientists of that time it was unclear: if these particles are elementary, then nothing can happen to them, and they must live forever.
With the development of quantum physics, researchers have found that the neutron is subject to decay, and at the same time quite fast. It decays into a proton, an electron and something else that could not be captured. The latter was noticed by a lack of energy. Then the scientists assumed that the list of elementary particles was exhausted, but now it is known that this is far from the case. A new particle called neutrino was discovered. It does not carry any electric charge and has an extremely low mass.
Neutron
A neutron is a subatomic particle that has a neutral electric charge. Its mass is almost 2 thousand times the mass of an electron. Since neutrons belong to the class of neutral particles, they interact directly with the nuclei of atoms, and not with their electron shells. Neutrons also have a magnetic moment, allowing scientists to study the microscopic magnetic structure of matter. Neutron radiation is harmless even to biological organisms.
Subatomic particle - proton
Scientists have found that these "bricks of matter" consist of three quarks. Proton is a positively charged particle. The mass of the proton exceeds the mass of the electron in 1836 times. One proton and one electron, when combined, form the simplest chemical element - the hydrogen atom. Until recently, it was believed that protons cannot change their radius depending on which electrons rotate above them. A proton is an electrically charged particle. Connecting with an electron, it turns into a neutron.
Electron
The electron was first discovered by the English physicist J. Thomson in 1897. This particle, as scientists now believe, is an elementary or point object. This is the name of a subatomic particle in an atom that does not have its own structure - does not consist of any other, smaller, components. In union with the proton and neutron, the electron forms an atom. Now scientists have not yet figured out what this particle consists of. An electron is a particle that has an infinitesimal electric charge. The very word "electron" in translation from ancient Greek means "amber" - after all, it was the amber that the scientists of Hellas used to study the phenomena of electricity. This term was proposed by the British physicist in 1894 by J. Stoney.
Why study elementary particles?
The simplest answer to the question of why scientists need knowledge of subatomic particles is as follows: to have information about the internal structure of an atom. However, such a statement contains only a fraction of the truth. In fact, scientists are studying not just the internal structure of the atom - the main field of their research is the collision of the smallest particles of matter. When these particles, which have enormous energy, collide with each other at high speeds, in the literal sense of the word, a new world is born, and the fragments of matter remaining after the collisions help to uncover the secrets of nature that have always remained a mystery to scientists.