Paper 1- Particles

Question 1

Name the 3 quark flavours

Answer 1

Up
Down
Strange

Question 2

What are leptons made of?

Answer 2

Nothing smaller

Question 3

Is strangeness conserved in the weak interaction?

Answer 3

Not always- it can change by +1 or -1

Question 4

What is a baryon made of?

Answer 4

3 quarks

Question 5

Describe the process of pair production

Answer 5

A photon with sufficient energy travels through matter and splits into a particle and an antiparticle

Question 6

What do kaons decay into and via what interaction?

Answer 6

Pions via the weak interaction

Question 7

Which particles experience the strong interaction?

Answer 7

All hadrons

Question 8

What is the lepton number of a lepton?

Answer 8

+1

Question 9

What is a hadron?

Answer 9

A particle made of quarks

Question 10

Are pions strange?

Answer 10

No

Question 11

How do strange particles decay?

Answer 11

Via the weak interaction

Question 12

What is another name for exchange particles?

Answer 12

Gauge bosons

Question 13

What properties are always conserved in a reaction?

Answer 13

Charge
Lepton number
Baryon number

Question 14

What do virtual particles transfer?

Answer 14

Force, momentum, energy, and sometimes charge

Question 15

Annihilation definition

Answer 15

The conversion of matter to energy

Question 16

What do all baryons decay into and why?

Answer 16

Protons because they are the only stable baryon

Question 17

What do muons decay into?

Answer 17

Electrons

Question 18

Name the 4 fundamental forces

Answer 18

Strong
Weak
Electromagnetic
Gravitational

Question 19

How was the neutrino discovered?

Answer 19

Beta particles are released with a range of energies, always less than the total energy released by the decaying atom which violates conservation of energy

Question 20

Z is the…

Answer 20

Proton number

Question 21

A is the…

Answer 21

Nucleon number

Question 22

Which particles experience the gravitational interaction?

Answer 22

All masses

Question 23

What is the role of the strong interaction?

Answer 23

To keep the nucleus stable, overcoming the repulsion between protons

Question 24

What do virtual particles do?

Answer 24

Travels between real particles and affects their motion in some way

Question 25

Why must independent groups of scientists verify each other's work?

Answer 25

So there can be no accusation of bias in analysis of results, confirming their reproducibility

Question 26

Define and isotope

Answer 26

A variation of an element with a different number of neutrons than that of the most common form of the element

Question 27

Define specific charge

Answer 27

The charge per unit mass

Question 28

How are strange particles produced?

Answer 28

Through the strong interaction

Question 29

Pair production definition

Answer 29

The conversion of energy to matter

Question 30

Define electron volt

Answer 30

The energy transferred when an electron is moved through a potential difference of 1 volt

Question 31

Which particles experience the electromagnetic interaction?

Answer 31

All charged particles

Question 32

How do you calculate specific charge?

Answer 32

Divide the charge (in coulombs) by the mass (in kg)

Question 33

Describe the process of annihilation

Answer 33

A particle-antiparticle pair meet and their mass is converted into 2 photons moving in opposite directions

Question 34

What are the gauge bosons for the weak interaction?

Answer 34

W bosons

Question 35

Are kaons strange?

Answer 35

Yes

Question 36

What is the range of the strong interaction?

Answer 36

0.5fm - 3fm

Question 37

What does Planck's constant mean?

Answer 37

Particles can exist for a time as long as energy x time does not exceed Planck's constant

Question 38

What is a meson made of?

Answer 38

A quark and an antiquark

Question 39

What is the lepton number of an antilepton?

Answer 39

-1

Question 40

Describe alpha decay

Answer 40

A heavy nucleus releases and alpha particle and the nucleus recoils

Question 41

Which particles experience the weak interaction?

Answer 41

All hadrons and leptons