Particle Physics Flashcards
Describe the Rutherford’s alpha scattering experiment.
- A fine beam of alpha particles from an alpha source is fired towards gold foil.
- A detector detects where the alpha particles are deflected towards.
What conclusions did the Alpha Scattering experiment result in?
Atom is mainly empty space- most alpha particles were detected behind the gold foil.
Nucleus is a positive charge- some alpha particles were deflected away at large angles.
Nucleus is small- only a few alpha particles were deflected away.
What is the quark structure of a proton
uud
Describe the nature of the strong nuclear force.
A strong force that acts between quarks and hadrons.
It is attractive to about 3fm and repulsive at a distance of below 0.5fm.
Describe the nature and range of the three forces that act on protons and neutrons.
- Gravitational force is attractive and is long ranged
- Strong nuclear is attractive at long distances and repulsive at short distances
- Electrostatic is repulsive between proton to proton and is long ranged
What is a hadron?
Quarks affected by the strong nuclear force
eg protons, neutrons
Why are the densities of different nuclei roughly the same?
mass ∝ nucleon number => volume ∝ nucleon number
Mass to volume ratio is the same so density does not change
