Subatomic particle
 | The English used in this article or section may not be easy for everybody to understand. |
 | An editor thinks that this article may not be neutral. (April 2009) |
A subatomic particle is a particle smaller than an atom. This means it is very, very small. It is so small it cannot even be seen! It is also very interesting to scientists who try to understand atoms better. Some examples of subatomic particles are: protons, neutrons, electrons, quarks and leptons. Protons and neutrons are made up of quarks which are smaller particles. Electrons are examples of leptons.
These particles are often held together within an atom by one of the four fundamental forces (gravity, electromagnetic force, strong force, or weak force), and outside of the atom the particles often move very, very quickly- near the speed of light which is very, very fast. Subatomic particles are divided into two groups, Baryons and Leptons.
Baryons have more things than leptons. They have a given Baryon number. In reactions, the Baryon number must be conserved, meaning that both the starting and ending sides of a reaction must have the same number of Baryons. Baryonic particles are made up of a combination of the six quarks, which are among the most basic particles. The six quark types are up, down (which make up protons and neutrons), strange, charm, top, and bottom.
Leptons are generally much smaller than Baryons. This category includes electrons, Muons, Taus and neutrinos. Leptons are not made up of quarks, and are not divisible.
In addition to these, there are also anti-particles, which have the same mass as their normal counterparts, except they have the opposite charge. Anti-matter and matter cannot exist near each other. Whenever matter and antimatter collide, they destroy each other with a huge release of energy equivalent to E=mc2, where m is the combined mass of the particles, c is the speed of light, and E is the energy produced. These collisions often take place in large particle accelerators, where the energy can turn back into matter by the same equation. This can produce many odd particles that exist only for a short time.
Most of the particles discovered are created by accelerating particles and colliding them against others, creating huge showers of new subatomic particles which decay extremely quickly. However, because the particles are moving close to the speed of light, they obey the law of special relativity, and undergo time dilation. This means that time passes slower for the particle, and they can travel (and be measured) over a longer distance than scientists might predict.