A Neutrino Particle Can Pass Through Our Planet And Not Interact With Anything
Fact of the day: A neutrino (a type of lepton) particle can pass through our planet and not come in contact with anything.
Leptons are the other type of fermions (quarks and leptons) that make up the left side of the standard model of elementary particles. They are considered to be fundamental particles. The study of leptons is known as quantum flavourdynamics, because different types of leptons are referred to as different flavours of leptons.
There are six types of leptons:
• Electron (e−) - this particle carries a negative electric charge, and is most commonly found orbiting an atom. They have a very small mass, and as a result they are often thought of as fields of probability orbiting an atom. The electron is the least massive of any charged particle. The electron is produced in some forms of radioactivity.
• Muon (μ−) - the muon is almost exactly the same as an electron, except it is more massive. Muons are unstable particles. Antimuons can (rarely) pair with an electron to form muonium, which is a very exotic (kind-of) atom. It can be considered an isotope of hydrogen, but with one ninth the mass of a proton.
• Tau (τ−) - The tau is also a greek letter (which it is represented by). The tau has a fairly large mass, as it is the only lepton that can decay into hadrons.
• The other three types of leptons are called neutrino particles and have a neutral electric charge (hence their name). They are called the electron neutrino (νe), the muon neutrino (νμ), and the tau neutrino (ντ). Neutrino particles very rarely interact with other types of matter. Neutrinos are the second most abundant particle in the universe, after the photon. Any of the neutrinos can change between types simultaneously. When they were originally detected they were thought to be massless, but we now know that the combined mass of the three types is less than one millionth the mass of an electron. However, as the particles rarely interact with other particles, their masses have not been calculated yet.
(above) The first neutrino observation. The π-meson is a pion.
All of the leptons have an antimatter particle. The positron (anti electron) (e+), antimuon (μ+), antitau (τ+), electron antineutrino (νe), muon antineutrino (νμ), and the tau antineutrino (ντ).
(above) The lepton section of the standard model of elementary particles.
Leptons are the other type of fermions (quarks and leptons) that make up the left side of the standard model of elementary particles. They are considered to be fundamental particles. The study of leptons is known as quantum flavourdynamics, because different types of leptons are referred to as different flavours of leptons.
There are six types of leptons:
• Electron (e−) - this particle carries a negative electric charge, and is most commonly found orbiting an atom. They have a very small mass, and as a result they are often thought of as fields of probability orbiting an atom. The electron is the least massive of any charged particle. The electron is produced in some forms of radioactivity.
• Muon (μ−) - the muon is almost exactly the same as an electron, except it is more massive. Muons are unstable particles. Antimuons can (rarely) pair with an electron to form muonium, which is a very exotic (kind-of) atom. It can be considered an isotope of hydrogen, but with one ninth the mass of a proton.
• Tau (τ−) - The tau is also a greek letter (which it is represented by). The tau has a fairly large mass, as it is the only lepton that can decay into hadrons.
• The other three types of leptons are called neutrino particles and have a neutral electric charge (hence their name). They are called the electron neutrino (νe), the muon neutrino (νμ), and the tau neutrino (ντ). Neutrino particles very rarely interact with other types of matter. Neutrinos are the second most abundant particle in the universe, after the photon. Any of the neutrinos can change between types simultaneously. When they were originally detected they were thought to be massless, but we now know that the combined mass of the three types is less than one millionth the mass of an electron. However, as the particles rarely interact with other particles, their masses have not been calculated yet.
(above) The first neutrino observation. The π-meson is a pion.
All of the leptons have an antimatter particle. The positron (anti electron) (e+), antimuon (μ+), antitau (τ+), electron antineutrino (νe), muon antineutrino (νμ), and the tau antineutrino (ντ).
(above) The lepton section of the standard model of elementary particles.
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