I 2 Known Facts - Smaller Structures

PART I THE UNIVERSAL OCEAN

CHAPTER 2 THE KNOWN FACTS

SMALLER STRUCTURES OF MATTER
Section 2

From Animals to Atoms

The Atomic Elements

The Particles of the Standard Model

Electrons and Positrons
Quarks
Neutrinos

FROM ANIMALS TO ATOMS

First, consider the structure of matter on the scale at which human beings exist, at the level of atoms and molecules.

Human beings, and in fact all life forms on the Earth, are composed of cells. Cells are made of molecules. Atoms bind together to form molecules.

Humans are composed of cells. Cells are the functional units of all life. Cells are the building blocks from which all life is made including humans.

Through the organizing process of life, elementary atoms are bound together to form the largest of molecules, the molecules of life, DNA. The structure of the still larger organized group of molecules, the animal body, is encoded in DNA of the chromosomes. The chromosomes are found in nearly every cell in the body. The building blocks of DNA chromosomes are the atoms.

Atoms are made from electrons surrounding a positively charged nucleus. The nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons. Protons are one unit positive charge and neutrons are neutral.

Periodic Table - Mendeleev; The Electron - J. J. Thompson; The Nucleus - Neils Bohr; The Proton - ?; The Neutron - Chadwick

THE ATOMIC ELEMENTS

The matter that can be seen in the universe, such as planets and stars and galaxies of stars, is composed mainly of atoms. Atoms are composed of an atomic nucleus, and an electron cloud "orbiting" the atomic nucleus. The electrons orbiting the atomic nucleus provide most of the volume of the atom.

For instance the atom of helium has a nucleus which has two positive charges in the nucleus and two negative electrons orbiting the positive nucleus.

Components of the Atom
The nucleus is composed of two more fundamental units of matter, the proton and neutron. The variety of chemical elements are caused by the atomic nuclei having different numbers of protons. The number of positive protons in the nucleus determines the number of negative electrons which need to be captured by an atomic nucleus in order for the atom to be electrically neutral.

A proton has one unit positive electrical charge and neutrons are neutral in electrical charge. Therefore, at the level of the atomic elements, the structure of matter is composed of electrons with negative electrical charge, the protons with positive electrical charge, and neutrons with no charge.

The atomic constituents of matter all have anti-matter counterparts. The anti-matter counterparts can form atoms of anti-matter.

THE PARTICLES OF THE STANDARD MODEL

The present dominant theory of the fundamental constituents of matter is called the Standard Model. The Standard Model is the present explanation of the organization of the structure of matter. In addition to the consituents of the atom, the electron, proton, and neutron, other sub-atomic particles have been found such as pions and kaons. In fact, hundreds of sub-atomic particles have been identified. The Standard Model realizes a more fundemental grouping of these sub-atomic particles and reveals the order in the plethora of sub-atomic particles.

The Standard Model organizes the most elementary components of matter of protons and neutrons at a more fundamental level, the level of quarks. Up and down quarks comprise protons and neutrons. Leptons, or lightweight particles are neutrinos and electrons, which together with quarks comprise normal matter.

The Stadard Model particles and their anti-matter counterparts are shown below.

MATTER

ANTI-MATTER

	FIRST GENERATION	SECOND GENERATION	THIRD GENERATION
Leptons	electron electron neutrino	muonmuon neutrino	taontaon neutrino
Quarks	up down	strange charm	top bottom

Standard Model Particles

LEPTONS - PARTICLES OF THE STANDARD MODEL

Electrons were first known fundamental particle.

Neutrinos are a totally different animal than electrons, but electrons and neutrinos are thought of in the Standard Model as being partner particles in that the neutrino is something like a neutral electron.

Therefore, when a neutron decays under the weak force, the neutron converts to a proton and a W+ particle. The W+ particle then decays into an electron and an anti-neutrino, which is a kind of charged particle and chargeless anti-particle pair.

QUARKS - PARTICLES OF THE STANDARD MODEL

The Standard Model proposes that protons and neutrons are composed from two types of quarks, the up quark and the down quark. A proton is composed of two up quarks and one down quark. A neutron is composed of one up quark and two down quarks.

The quarks come in three poles of color charge.

NEUTRINOS - PARTICLES OF THE STANDARD MODEL

There is an another fundamental particle in the Standard Model not yet mentioned, the neutrino. Consider the decay of a neutron. A neutron decays into a proton, an anti-neutrino, and an electron. The ejected electron in the neutron decay almost always exhibits left hand spin and the anti-neutrino always exhibits right hand spin.

The ejected electron in the neutron decay almost always exhibits left hand spin and the anti-neutrino always exhibits right hand spin.

A neutron is composed of one up quark and two down quarks. A proton is composed of two up quarks and one down quark. Therefore, the Standard model proposes that the decay of the neutron into a proton is actually the decay of a down quark into an up quark and an anti-neutrino and an electron.

The corresponding decay of an anti-neutron into an anti-proton, a neutrino, and an anti-electron or positron is shown below.

The corresponding decay of an anti-down quark into an anti-up quark and a neutrino and a positron is shown below.

THE FLAW IN THE STANDARD MODEL

Particle physics bottom level. aesthetic flaw too complicated. "Don't really see the Creator tweeking 20 knobs ..." "Six quarks and six leptons, and their anti-particles, coming in three different colors is too complicated".
-Leon Lederman The Creation of the Universe PBS Home Video PBS 135

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Last Upadet: June 27, 1998
Comments: jrees@starlight-pub.com Starlight Publishing
Created April 7, 1997Copyright © 1998 Starlight Publishing Company Hermosa Beach, CA