Elementary Particles

Columbia Encyclopedia: Elementary Particles


Particle	Symbol	Mass (MeV/c²)	Electric Charge
electron	e^-	0.511	−1
muon	μ^-	105.7	−1
tau	τ	1784.1	−1
electron neutrino	ν_e	<7.3×10⁻⁶	0
muon neutrino	ν_μ	<0.27	0
tau neutrino	ν_τ	<35	0

1
down	d	5-15	−¹/₃
up	u	2-8	²/₃
strange	s	100-300	−¹/₃
charm	c	1300-1700	²/₃
bottom	b	4700-5300	−¹/₃
top	t	>91,000	²/₃


photon	γ	0	0
gluon	g	0	0
W-boson	W	80,200	1
Z-boson	Z	91,170	0


Particle	Symbol	Mass (MeV/c²)	Electric Charge	Quark Content
positive pion	π⁺	139.6	1	ud̄
positive kaon	K⁺	493.7	1	us̄
proton	p	938.3	1	uud
neutron	n	939.6	0	udd
lambda	Λ	1115.6	0	uds

For each of these particles, except the photon, gluon, and Z-boson, there is an antiparticle with the same mass and opposite charge. In most cases the antiparticle is denoted by an overbar over the particle symbol (e.g., the symbol for the antiproton is p̄.
1 Because quarks cannot be isolated, the masses given for them are approximate.

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Essential Desk Reference: Chemistry: Elementary Particles

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*Each lepton and quark has an antiparticle, a particle with a number of opposite properties
**Each gauge boson carries a force that interacts with quarks to form hadrons. The gluon carries the strong nuclear force of protons and neutrons, the photon carries the electromagnetic force, the W and Z bosons carry the weak force that affects neutrinos, and the graviton carries the gravitational force.

Hughes, I. S. Elementary Particles. 3d ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1991.
Griffiths, David. Introduction to Elementary Particles. New York: Wiley, 1987.
Nave, C. R. “Hyperphysics: Particle Concepts,” http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/parcon.html

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		Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more
		Essential Desk Reference. The Essenial Desk Reference Dictionary. Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved. Read more