What is a Particle FAMILY?
One reason scientists study particles is to find their similarities and
differences.
What is a family?
Science often begins by grouping things.
Zoologists classify animals so that tigers, cheetahs, and tabbies end up
in the family of "cats" (felines).
The Russian scientist, Dmitri Mendeleev, grouped elements in the Periodic
Table according to their chemical properties and atomic weights. It was
many years after Mendeleev that chemists understood WHY elements belonged
to certain groups.
What is a particle family?
Physicists group particles called quarks and leptons into
"families."
Today, physicists are trying to understand WHY quarks and leptons belong
to particular groups.
Not so long ago scientists discovered so many new particles (several
hundred) they called them a Particle Zoo. The picture was simplified with
the discovery of more basic particles - quarks and leptons - that
physicists group into families. In the Particle Family Game, you grouped the
imaginary particles by identifying common characteristics as physicists do.
QUESTION: Does the electron belong to the Family of Quarks or
Leptons?
Quarks -
Leptons
Original Author: Mason Kidd - mrkidd@fnal.gov
Web Maintainer: ed-webmaster@fnal.gov
Last Update: June 11, 1998