The Field Guide to Particle Physics

Sean Downes

This is your informal guide to the subatomic ecosystem we’re all immersed in. In this series, we explore the taxa of particle species and how they interact with one another. Our aim is give us all a better foundation for understanding our place in the universe.

The guide starts with a host of different particle species. We’ll talk about their masses, charges and interactions with other particles. We’ll talk about how they are created, how they decay, and what other particles they might be made of.

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49 episodes
Updated Dec 7, 2022

Episodes49

Newest first

Sep 29, 2021 · 4 min
The Up and Down Quarks
There are all kinds of quarks, but the two most relevant for everyday life are the up and the down quarks. The proton has two up quarks and one down quark. The neutron has two down quarks and and up quark. Don’t read too much into those names.
Sep 28, 2021 · 5 min
The Neutrino
The tiny, neutral one - or neutrino - has caused a lot of consternation since its discovery. The plural of neutrino is neutrini.
Sep 27, 2021 · 3 min
The Tau
The tau is a very heavy species of elementary particle that aren’t quite as common as the electron or the muon. Nevertheless, just as the muon shares many of the properties with the electron, so too does the tau.
Sep 26, 2021 · 4 min
The Muon
Muons are a lesser known species of elementary particles that are extremely common, at least on Earth. They’re falling all around us, all the time. Muons are created by the collision of particles from outer space smashing into the molecules of the upper a
Sep 25, 2021 · 2 min
The Electron
The electron is arguably the most famous of the elementary particles. They are the business end of the atom, and their dynamics give rise to virtually all of chemistry. They’re also the basic working particle of electricity, and their presence or absence
Sep 24, 2021 · 4 min
The Photon
Light is made up of particles: quirky, counterintuitive particles, but particles nonetheless. This fact was a surprise, and is still difficult to internalize, because light is also made up of electromagnetic waves. We call particles of light photons. Phot
Sep 23, 2021 · 5 min
The Electron Cloud
Atoms are modeled by a nucleus surrounded by an electron cloud. We’ve discussed the nucleus earlier; it’s the hard center of the atom. It’s really, really small, as small as a speck of dust in the middle of a baseball stadium. Despite that fact, the nucle
Sep 22, 2021 · 3 min
The Atomic Nucleus
We are made of molecules, and molecules are made of atoms, and atoms are really, really small. Atoms are so small that its hard for our minds to comprehend it, but if you need a reference point take your height and divide it by a billion. Or maybe ten bil
Sep 21, 2021 · 7 min
The Guide to the Field Guide to Particle Physics
The guide starts with a host of different particle species. We’ll talk about their masses, charges and interactions with other particles. We’ll talk about how they are created, how they decay, and what other particles they might be made of. Before we begi