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1 The Quantum World
- Atoms are small, and the quantum world concern itself with sub-atomic particles.
- In the 1920s, Protons and Electrons are know to be the two things that
are subatomic
- Protons are hitting earth frequently, creating the "primary cosmic radiation"
- Photons also exists, but it has no mass
- Protons were not given article status until later, when electrons are recognized also as being able to be created, anililated
- The 1920s brought a bunch of things
- Matter, not just light, have wave-like properties
- Fundimental laws of nature are on a probability curve
- Electron spin was discovered
- Antiparticle was discovered
- Importantly, the properties vs the action of the particles often get mixed up
- The known particles are mostly built from combination of smaller fundimental particals
- Standard model for Subatomic Particles
- 24 subatomic particles
Fentometer (10-15 m) is the common unit of length. Speed of light, 3x108 = C is the common unit for speed. e- charge as the common united as charge. eV, voltage of electron, is the common unit for energy.
A Tachyon may be able to travel faster than the speed of light. It is theoretical, may go faster than light, and could break causality in some reference frames. No one has found it.
- Gluon => Glue for particles within nucleaus
- Pion => nuclear collisions driven particle
1.1 Absolutes
- Shortest distance: 10 * -18m
- Shortest time 10 * -26s
- Longest time: 13.7 billion years
Mass: measure of how hard it is to set a stationary object into motion, deflect, or stop a moving object.
So, to measure a particle's mass, we boink it around in a magnetic field and measure its path.
#ask Kinetic energy + mass energy (e=mc2) = energy?
"Mass energy is porportional to mass". Mass represents a highly concentrated form of energy; a little mass yields lots of energy, meaning that a lot of energy is needed to make mass.
Humans have done this: if you take two protons and go kaboom by slaming them together, you put a lot of energy in, you make new mass!
Energy and mass are tipically measured in the same unit => the Electron Volt. And… MeV, is "million electron volts."
Like charges repel; but how does the necleaous stay together? Gluons — gluons serve as the glue to glue particles together. But, heavy elements have very high electrical force from change that cause things to fly away, so gluons work… to a point. This is why uranium+ atoms don't exist in nature
Charge is measured in Coulomb => charge through a 100 watt light bulb in a second
Rotation around center: spin
Rotation around object: orbital motion
Both are measured by angular momentum => angular momentum is quantized by h-bar (Planck's constant/2pi). Meaning particles could only have angular momentum 0, h-bar, 2h-bar, 3hbar, etc.
In theory, you spinning is also quantized like this, but you don't notice it because… scales.
Natural constant: Planck's Constant (h) & the speed of light (c).