neutrinos

Neutrinos are easy to overlook - in more ways than one! In addition to bring only roughly the size of an electron, the only one of the fundamental forces that consistently affects neutrinos is the extremely short-range "weak" force. That means they are no only invisible to normal observation techniques, but that they can even pass through solid matter without interacting with it. Neutrinos are sometimes called "ghost particles" because of this.

This website—hosted by the University of California Irvine School of Physical Sciences—offers a concise, accessible description of neutrinos and a historical timeline of advances in our understanding of them, as well as a FAQ about the "ghost particles", and related links.

"What's a neutrino?"

The standard model

Subatomic particles don't exist independently (it's true! Most of the hadronize or decay), and the interrelation between quarks, leptons, and force carrier particles is what's generally referred to as the Standard Model.

CERN provides an excellent and accessible explanation of the Standard Model.

The Four Forces of Nature

One can't properly talk about subatomic particles without talking about the fundamental forces as well. And for an astrophysics question, who better to ask than an astrophysicist?

Thanks to the Ask an Astrophysicist feature on NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's "Imagine the Universe!" website, you can do just that! Submission guidelines for questions are provided on the website, and an extensive archive is available for viewing in case you wanted to know the answer to someone else's question as well! Topics range from cosmic rays, dark matter and dark energy, and relativity...and questions about astronomy and space exploration, of course!

"The Four Forces of Nature"

Life, the Universe and the Electron

Atoms have been known—at least in a metaphorical sense—since the Classical period, and quarks and leptons are still the "cool, fresh face" of particle physics. But what about the humble electron? Hypothesized even before then, and discovered in 1897, our knowledge of the electron is a little over a century old, and what a century it's been!

This website was a collaborative effort on part of the Science Museum (London, UK) and the Institute of Physics to celebrate the centennial of the discovery of the electron. Lots of cool information that's sure to give you a charge!

Life, the Universe and the Electron

Atomic Firsts

Who likes to be first? Who doesn't like to be first!

This on-line article provided by the Science Museum (London, UK) gives some background on some of the true pioneers of physics, such as Joseph John Thomson, the man who discovered the electron...back in 1897! Wow!

This article is light on pictures and has no interactive elements, but it's chock full of information about atomic "firsts"!

"Atomic Firsts"

The Man Who Found Quarks

There's no doubt that quarks are cool, but what about the physicists who discovered them? This article from April 2009 issue of popular science magazine Discover is an interview with Murray Gell-Mann, one of the men who first discovered quarks!

"The Man Who Found Quarks and Made Sense of the Universe"

By the way, Dr. Gell-Mann won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1969, and is one of the co-founders of the Santa Fe Institute.

Charting the way

For being so small, there sure is a lot of information to remember about subatomic particles!

This chart is a classroom resource provided by the Contemporary Physics Education Project, an international non-profit organization of teachers, educators, and physicists. CPEP grants teachers and students permission to download and print off sections of the full chart, and even provides JPEG and PDF versions for easy access.

Fundamental Particles and Interactions chart