Particle physics

Alpha-particle scattering experiment

n

2n)
197
(1ap + 117n)
& >
- A nucleus (2p +
, Au
2
charge = + 2e mass = 4u 79
,

Apparatus:
L • α-particle source was encased in metal with a small
aperture, allowing a fine beam of α-particles to emerge
- • Air in the apparatus was pumped out to leave a vacuum;

α-radiation is absorbed by a few centimetres of air.

w
• One reason for choosing gold was that it can be made
into a very thin sheet or foil. Rutherford’s foil was only a few
hundreds of atoms thick.
-
• The α-particles were detected when they struck a solid
‘scintillating’ material. Each α-particle gave a tiny flash of light
and these were counted
- • The detector could be moved round to detect α-particles
scattered through different angles.
Observations:
- • Most of the α-particles went straight through.
- • Some were deflected slightly,

- • but about 1 in 20 000 were deflected through

an angle of more than 90°, so that they appeared to

bounce back off the foil

Conclusions about the structure of the atom:

• An α-particle is deviated due to the repulsive force
between the α-particle and the positive charge in the
atom.
• Most α-particles have little or no deviation – so
most of an atom is empty space.
• A very few α-particles are deviated more than 90° –
so most of the mass and positive charge of an atom is -
concentrated in a small space (the nucleus) and most of
the atom is empty space. Only those particles deviated
more then 90 degrees that came very close to the
nucleus of gold.
 Simple model of the atom

• After the alpha particle scattering experiment, the nuclear model of the
atom gained acceptance rapidly. 15 m
• Subsequently, the proton was discovered. It had a positive charge, equal C >
and opposite to that of the electron.
• However, its mass was too small to account for the entire mass of the
atom and it was not until the early 1930s that this puzzle was solved by the
discovery of the neutron, an uncharged particle with a similar mass to that of
the proton.

So the suggested model of the atom looks like this:

• Protons and neutrons make up the nucleus of the atom. 3
• The electrons move around the nucleus in a cloud, some
closer to and some further from the centre of the nucleus.

Here are the approximate sizes of the particles discussed above:

• radius of proton ~ radius of neutron ~ 10−15 m
• radius of nucleus ~ 10−15 m to 10−14 m
• radius of atom ~ 10−10 m
• size of molecule ~ 10−10 m to 10−6 m (very large molecules)

The radii of nuclear particles are often quoted in femtometres (fm), where 1 fm
= 10−15 m.
Table gives relative charges and masses of particles in the atom in different units.

= I Conversions:
unified atomic mass unit , 1u = 1.66 x 10-27 kg
I
Elementary charge, 1e = 1.6 x 10-19 C
=

27
15
-

4 x 1 66
.
x 10 4 + 2 x 1 6
.
x + 2

↓
In
2pt

Nuclide Notation

The number of protons in the nucleus is known as a proton number or atomic number Z.
Protons and neutrons in the nucleus are collectively called nucleons. The sum of protons and neutrons gives the
nucleon number (or mass number), A.
The nucleus of any atom can be represented by the symbol for the element along with the nucleon number and
proton number.

X of the element (H, He , C 0 Nal

A =
symbol , ,

X
Z z proton number/atomic number

A = mass number/nuclear number

(protons + neutrons)

to find number of neutrons = A -

Z

examples 16
protons =
8 neutrons =
8
D mass = 16 u

8 charge = + be

197

Au protons =
79 neutrons =
118
mass = 197 u

79 charge =
+ 192

238
protons 92 neutrons 146
W
= =

23 8v
92 charge =
+ 922 mass =
 Isotopes

• The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom determines what element it is: helium always has 2 protons, carbon 6
protons, oxygen 8 protons, neon 10 protons, radium 88 protons, uranium 92 protons, and so on.
• However, the number of neutrons in the nuclei for a given element can vary. Take neon as an example. Three different
naturally occurring forms of neon are:

○ Neon-20 Ne &
protons = 10 neutrons = 13

○ Neon-21 Ne > protons = 10 neutrons = 1)

○ Neon-22 protons =
10 neutrons =
12
Ne >

• The first has 10 neutrons, the second has 11, and the third has 12 neutrons. These are isotopes of the same element.

"Isotopes are nuclei of the same element with different numbers of neutrons but the same number of protons."

• Any atom is electrically neutral (it has no net positive or negative charge), so the number of electrons surrounding the
nucleus must equal the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom.
• If an atom gains or loses an electron, it is no longer electrically neutral and is called an ion.
• For an atom, the number of protons (and hence the number of electrons) determines the chemical properties of the atom.
The number of protons and the number of neutrons determine the nuclear properties.
• since the number of protons, and therefore the number of electrons, in isotopes of the same element are identical, they
will all have the same chemical properties but very different nuclear properties.
• The different numbers of neutrons in the isotopes of an element means that the isotopes will have different relative
atomic masses. There are differences too in some of their physical properties, such as density and boiling point. For example,
heavy water, which is water containing deuterium, has a boiling point of 104 °C under normal atmospheric pressure.
 Families of particles

• Protons, neutrons and electrons were thought of as fundamental particles, which could not be subdivided further.
• However, in the middle decades of the 20th century, physicists discovered many other particles that did not fit this pattern. They
gave them names such as pions, kaons, muons, etc., using up most of the letters of the Greek alphabet.
• These new particles were found in two ways:
○ by looking at cosmic rays, which are particles that arrive at the Earth from outer space
○ by looking at the particles produced by high-energy collisions in particle accelerators
The discovery of new particles with masses different from those of protons, neutrons and electrons suggested that these were not
fundamental particles. Various attempts were made to tidy up this very confusing picture.

• Today, sub-atomic particles are divided into two families:

○ Hadrons such as protons and neutrons. These are all particles that are affected by the strong nuclear force.
○ Leptons such as electrons and neutrinos. These are particles that are unaffected by the strong nuclear force.
• Hadrons are made up a few just a few different particles called quarks.
• There are six flavours of quarks. There properties are given in the table.
• The hadron family can be further divided into two types: 1) Gravitational
○ Baryons: made up of three quarks or antiquarks
2) Electromagnetic
○ Mesons, made up of one quark and one antiquark
• Quarks are held together by the strong nuclear force. 3) Strong nuclear
u) weak nuclear
-
• Examples of hadrons:
○ A proton is made up of two up quarks and a down quark; proton = (uud).
○ A neutron is made up of one up quark and two down quarks; neutron = (udd).
3
Baryons

-
-

○ A pi+ meson is made up of an up quark and a down antiquark; pi+ meson = (ud).
○ A phi meson is made up of a strange quark and an antistrange quark; phi meson = (ss). YMesons

• Antiquarks are shown with a ‘bar’ on top of the letter for the quark. Antiquarks are needed to account for the existence of
antimatter. This is matter that is made of antiparticles. Antimatter particles are same↓as matter particles but they have opposite
charge. mass
• When a particle meets its antiparticle, they annihilate each other, leaving only photons of energy.
Examples of antiparticles:
·
I

2
Antiparticle of electron is known as the positron. - I · + 1

Antiparticle of a neutrino is called antinuetrino. · 3

-

p V
J & A

• Remember fundamental particles are those that are not made up anything simpler/smaller. From the information above we
have 2 families of fundamental particles:
○ Leptons
○ Quarks
 All particles * fundamental particle

I
L

Hadrons Leptons
made of
*
e
g : electrons position
quarks
.

up
- neutrino
,
antineutrino

L
S

Baryons Mesons

made of 3 quarks made

up
of 1 quark
up
or 3 antiquarks & I antiquark
2
pi + meson (ud)
proton (und
.

9 :

e
:
g
.

phi (55)
(udd)
meson

neutron

quarks have 6 Flavours and antiquarks have 6 flavours as well

 Quarks and antiquarks

- -
x
-
+ + XX X

-
- ↓ W
X X ↓ X X
u

u
 2

"He eg pin n :
,

Merg
 weak nuclear force

+ Ye + in
+ je + ir