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subatomic particle |
Also found in: Medical, Wikipedia, Hutchinson | 0.03 sec. |
subatomic particleor elementary particleAny of various self-contained units of matter or energy. Discovery of the electron in 1897 and of the atomic nucleus in 1911 established that the atom is actually a composite of a cloud of electrons surrounding a tiny but heavy core. By the early 1930s it was found that the nucleus is composed of even smaller particles, called protons and neutrons. In the early 1970s it was discovered that these particles are made up of several types of even more basic units, named quarks, which, together with several types of leptons, constitute the fundamental building blocks of all matter. A third major group of subatomic particles consists of bosons, which transmit the forces of the universe. More than 200 subatomic particles have been detected so far, and most appear to have a corresponding antiparticle (see antimatter). subatomic particle [¦səb·ə′täm·ik ′pärd·ə·kəl] (physics) A particle which is smaller than an atom, namely, an elementary particle or an atomic nucleus. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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| If experiments confirm mass loss for all nuclear particles, "it's a paradigm shift in the way you view nuclear structure," comments Anthony Thomas, a nuclear theorist at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Va. ST will supply specially designed silicon sensors that will detect nuclear particles generated in the LHC experiments, including experiments designed to detect the particle known as the Higgs Boson whose existence, if verified, has crucial implications for theoretical physics. The fact that electrons, which aren't nuclear particles, respond to a nuclear force at all stems from a deep connection between the electromagnetic and weak forces (SN: 10/16/99, p. |
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