tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30970875.post8991661446134011785..comments2023-05-13T09:35:57.871-04:00Comments on Infophilia: Physics Q&A #2: The Fundamental Forces (part 1.5)Infophilehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18309973524623338264noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30970875.post-32295939179901170962007-05-17T13:29:00.000-04:002007-05-17T13:29:00.000-04:00Now, that is a heavy little thing... I presume the...<I>Now, <B>that</B> is a heavy little thing... I presume they're little.</I><BR/><BR/>Well, it's impossible to really compare the sizes of fundamental particles, seeing as on that scale they all behave like waves. You could give the wavelength of a particle to give its rough size, but that depends on how fast it's traveling and its mass (at the same speed, more massive particles actually end up being smaller, so the top quark would then end up being the smallest particle as well).<BR/><BR/>As for flavor, that's actually just a different term for different types of particles. I'll go into it in detail in the next section, but a brief overview:<BR/><BR/>There are two ways the weak force can work: "Charged," with the W+/-, or "Neutral," with the Z. Charged weak interactions always involve particles changing flavor in some way. Even in a few cases like Electron + Electron Neutrino -> Electron + Electron Neutrino where the products are the same as the reactants, the actual interaction has the two particles switching flavor. Weak neutral interactions, on the other hand, never change the flavor of particles, but instead alter their spin. Why they didn't also note this on the poster, I can't say.<BR/><BR/>Of course, as I mentioned before, it really isn't correct to think of the weak nuclear force as an actual force, since it never simply acts without altering the particles involved. This means the "acts on" qualifier doesn't make as much sense either. Most careful sources nowadays call it an "interaction."Infophilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18309973524623338264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30970875.post-78995960167924591232007-05-17T12:09:00.000-04:002007-05-17T12:09:00.000-04:00Top QuarkIsospin: +1/2Charge: +2/3Mass: Very High ...<I>Top Quark<BR/>Isospin: +1/2<BR/>Charge: +2/3<BR/>Mass: Very High (in fact, the highest of any particle known; about the mass of a gold atom)</I><BR/><BR/>Now, <B>that</B> is a heavy little thing... I presume they're little.<BR/><BR/>Noticed on the poster you linked to, it mentioned 'flavor' for the weak force relative to 'color charge' for the strong force. I know the idea behind color charge is that RGB make white, hence it takes 3 quarks to make color-neutral baryons like protons and neutrons, but what's up with <A HREF="http://icanhascheezburger.com/tag/flavor/" REL="nofollow">flavor</A>?<BR/><BR/>Suppose I might have to wait for a later section.Bronze Doghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10938257296504189967noreply@blogger.com