It is important to note that all of the diagrams on a molecular and atomic scale are representations and not pictures.

It is not possible to see images of particles so small.

Atoms are often arranged in relatively simple repeated patterns to form crystals and in arrangements which can be very complex to form large molecules. Atoms were regarded as the smallest fundamental particles up to the end of the 19th century.

J J Thompson, Rutherford and Millikan are signicant names in the investigation of atomic structure culminating in the idea that atoms were constructed from the fundamental particles of protons, neutrons in a very small central nucleus with negatively charged electrons distributed in energy levels around this centre. Although these ideas have been developed further they are still very important to current chemistry and physics.

Fundamental particles an introduction

The Fizzics Organisation

In describing the structure of the atoms we use several key denitions which all A level students should know: The proton number or atomic number is the number of protons in the nucleus. This number absolutely denes the chemical properties of the atom; it denes the element. The number of electrons in an electrically balanced atom is exactly equal to the number of protons. The nucleon number or atomic mass gives the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. It follows therefore that the number of neutrons = nucleon number - proton number. Atoms may have many isotopes. These are versions of the element that have identical chemical properties (the same number of protons) but a different number of neutrons, and therefore a different mass. The number of neutrons is the major determining factor on the stability of the nucleus, i.e. in deciding if the atom is likely to be radioactive. Atoms and molecules can be ionised. In becoming an ion they either gain or lose one or more electrons. If they gain an electron they become negatively charged. If they lose an electron they become positively charged.

As research progressed over the last half of last century it became clear that some of these particles were themselves made of smaller bits. So far it has not been possible to split up an electron - that is still thought of a one of the fundamental particles. We currently think that there are two types of fundamental particles - quarks and leptons Three types or avours of lepton (or six, if you count the corresponding neutrinos separately or twelve if you count antiparticles!) have been identied: the electron, the muon, the tau lepton or tau Each avor consists of a pair of particles called a weak doublet. One of this pair is a relatively massive and charged particle that has the same name as its avor (such as the electron). The other is a neutral particle of very tiny mass called a neutrino (for example the electron neutrino). And of course there are corresponding antimatter leptons and netrinos. The antimatter electron has a special name - the positron. The electron and the positron are stable (unless they meet of course) as are all the neutrinos. Hadrons are all made of of quarks, again split into two into two groups: The baryons are the family of subatomic particles all of which are made of three quarks. The family notably includes protons and neutrons, which make up the atomic nucleus, but many other unstable baryons exist as well. Mesons, made up of a quark and an antiquark pair.

The quark seems to be one of the basic constituents of matter. Six types have been identied but two are particularly common. The six types are quaintly known as known as avours: up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom. (I suppose they had to be called something). The up and down varieties survive in large quantities forming protons and neutrons. The other four have brief life spans as do the particles they form. In addition every quark has an antiparticle - a sort of mirror image with the same mass but an opposite charge. In total there are therefore 12 quarks. Up Down

Quarks and leptons

The Fizzics Organisation

u
Charm

d
Strange

c
Top

s
Bottom

t
charge + 2/3

b
charge - 1/3

Note- if a particle meets its antimatter mirror image then they mutually destruct producing energy.

d u u
Proton Neutron

d
Pion

Image Arpad Horvorth Wikipedia

The proton is made from two up quarks, charge +2/3 and one down quark, charge -1/3. The total charge is therefore 2/3 + 2/3 -1/3 = +1 The neutron consists of two down and one up quark, the charges canceling to a total of zero. The quarks themselves have a relatively small mass. The repulsion of the like charges of the quarks is overcome by particles called gluons. These glue the quarks together with the strong force which overcomes the electromagnet force of repulsion between like charges.

One example of a meson is a pion (+), which is made of an up quark and a down anitiquark. The antiparticle of a meson just has its quark and antiquark switched, so an antipion (-) is made up a down quark and an up antiquark. Because a meson consists of a particle and an antiparticle, it is very unstable. The kaon (K-) meson lives much longer than most mesons, which is why it was called "strange" and gave this name to the strange quark, one of its components. However, all mesons have brief lives measured in nanoseconds or less.

Quarks
The Fizzics Organisation

Beta plus and beta minus decay requires a change in quark character. Repeating the equation for beta minus decay: The weak interaction converts a neutron into a proton while emitting an electron and an anti-neutrino. At the fundamental level (as depicted in the Feynman diagram to the right), this is due to the conversion of a down quark to an up quark by emission of a W boson; the W boson subsequently decays into an electron and an anti-neutrino.

Interactions
The Fizzics Organisation

Above the Feynman diagram for beta decay of a neutron into a proton, electron, and electron antineutrino via an intermediate heavy W- boson.

Within the proton (1) a down quark changes to an up quark (2) creating a force carrier W- which travels outside the nucleus (3). The force carrier W - becomes an electron and an electron neutrino and the neutron has become a proton (4&5)

Below the Feynman diagram for beta plus decay of a proton into a neutron.

In beta plus decay, energy is used to convert a proton into a neutron, a positron and a neutrino: energy + p n + e+ + e So, unlike beta minus decay, beta plus decay cannot occur in isolation because it requires energy, the mass of the neutron being greater than the mass of the proton. Beta plus decay can only happen inside nuclei when the absolute value of the binding energy of the daughter nucleus is higher than that of the mother nucleus. The difference between these energies goes into the reaction of converting the particles and into the kinetic energy of these particles. Other than that, the sequence is similar - a mirror image.

Baryon number and conservation In stable units quarks are always present in threes, if antiquarks are counted as "negative quarks". Historically, baryon number was dened long before the current model of quarks was established, (e.g. that the total number of protons and neutrons is conserved) so rather than changing the denition, particle physicists simply divided by three. Nowadays it might be more appropriate to speak of the conservation of quark number.

The lepton number is the number of leptons minus the number of antileptons. In equation form, Analysis of particle interaction relies on lepton number conservation: the lepton number stays the same through an interaction. For example, in the beta decay:

Interaction Rules OK
The Fizzics Organisation

Strangeness, denoted as S, is a property of particles, expressed as a quantum number for describing decay of particles in strong and electro-magnetic reactions, which occur in a short period of time. The strangeness of a particle is dened as:

where represents the number of strange anti-quarks and strange quarks.

represents the number of