Atomic and Subatomic Physics Trivia

1. A boson is a subatomic particle that was named after a scientist from which country?

From Quiz Boson Buddies

Answer: India

The boson was named after Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974), a mathematician and physicist from India. He was born in the city of Calcutta (aka Kolkata), while India was under British rule. Satyendra Nath Bose formed a working relationship with famous German scientist Albert Einstein. During the mid 1920's, the two scientists came up with theories, equations and statistics that help describe the nature of bosons.

From Quiz Atoms!

Answer: alpha and beta

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) was a New Zealand chemist and physicist. He named alpha radiation after the name for the letter A in the Greek language, and used the same idea to name beta radiation after the name for the letter B in the Greek language. In 1908 he was awarded with a Nobel Prize in chemistry and is considered the father of nuclear physics.

From Quiz The Wonders of the Electron

Answer: Joseph John Thomson

Lyell was a British geologist. While de Broglie and Rutherford both made enormous contributions to our understanding of atomic structure and dynamics, it was J.J. Thomson, by analyzing the deflection of cathode rays under the influence of varying magnetic and electrical fields, who first received credit for nailing down the electron as a fundamental constituent of all matter.

From Quiz Protons and Neutrons

Answer: They're both present in atomic nuclei.

The word "nucleon" is a generic term for a proton or a neutron, the basic components of atomic nuclei. The mass of an atom is nearly all in its nucleus, which is made up of protons and neutrons bound together by the strong force. The number of protons determines which element it is, while the number of neutrons gives the specific isotope of that element; some isotopes are stable, and some are not. In a neutral atom, the positive charge of the nucleus is offset by negatively charged electrons, which orbit the nucleus in comparatively vast clouds. Chemical reactions occur when different atoms interact through their electrons.

From Quiz Is Gravity Always Getting You Down?

Answer: They were being attracted to the center of the universe, their natural place.

Scientific knowledge has progressed so much, hasn't it? Aristotle also believed that lighter elements, such as fire, rose upward because they were attracted by the more ethereal moon.

From Quiz Big Bang Experiment

Answer: The creation of the Universe

'The Big Bang theory' is a model used by physicists to explain the creation of the Universe. According to this theory, the Universe was created billions of years ago in a big bang. In early times the Universe was thus very hot and dense, and LHC experiments can re-create these conditions on a small scale. The Big Bang theory was proposed by a Catholic priest named Lemaitre.

From Quiz Nuclear Fusion: How It Works

Answer: mass(reactants) > mass(products)

Note: one product is more massive than individual reactants. The total mass of the reaction decreases. Nuclear fusion reactions form nuclei (or a nucleus) that possess less mass and binding energies than the original reactants, in energy-releasing (exergic)reations. Exergic reactions are more common in the sun and fusion reactor than endergic (energy-consuming reactions) reactions. Often, endergic consume thermal energy and yield increased mass (eg. the formation of deuterium from two protons (hydrogen)). The binding energy is the amount of energy holding nuclear particles (protons and neutrons) together in the nucleus. At very small nuclear distances, these particles all attract one another, so larger isotopes (versions of nuclei) and certain densely-packed configurations have lower binding energies and mass. When a fusion reaction produces a lower mass/binding energy, energy is released.

From Quiz Subatomic Physics Made Easier

Answer: Matter particles and force particles

The Standard Model uses matter and force particles to account for every atom, every subatomic particle and all the forms of force and energy.

From Quiz Subatomic Physics 1

Answer: up, up, down

Protons are composed of two up quarks and a down quark. Neutrons are made from two down quarks and an up quark.

From Quiz Inside The Atom

Answer: Protons-Neutrons-Electrons

Atoms are the smallest units of matter that can take part in a chemical reaction, and which cannot be broken down chemically into anything simpler.

From Quiz Subatomic Particles II

Answer: Antiquark

An anti-particle (or, in this case, an anti-quark) has the same mass as the 'normal' particle but opposite values of some other property or properties. These properties might include charge, spin properties or something else. The existence of anti-quarks is predicted by relativistic quantum mechanics and many of them have been discovered experimentally.

From Quiz Boson Buddies

Answer: Standard Model

The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory that attempts to link three of the four known physical forces together. These three forces include the electromagnetic force, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. The term "Standard Model" was first coined by Abraham Pais and Sam Treiman in 1975.

From Quiz The Theory of Everything

Answer: A quark must bind with another quark

Quarks must bind with other quarks, so you will never find a quark existing independently on its own. The other answers are all false. Even though "lepton" is derived from Greek for "thin/delicate", the tau lepton is much heavier than a quark. Quarks can have negative or positive charge (in fact, leptons cannot have positive charge). And all quarks and leptons have fractional spin -- only bosons have integer spins. Incidentally, the name "quark" comes from the novel "Finnegan's Wake" by James Joyce. When the Standard Model was first conceived, only three quarks were postulated. The physicist Murray Gell-Mann then decided to name this particle after the birdcall in the book: "Three quarks for Muster Mark".

From Quiz The Wonders of the Electron

Answer: Light

Electrons get a boost of energy when they absorb electromagnetic radiation (light energy) which allows them to jump to higher energy levels. The process in reverse causes the electron to release the light energy and return to the lower or ground state. Incidentally, astronomers use measurements of absorption lines across the spectrum of visible light to determine the chemical composition of stars. It's important here to note the intrinsic relationship between the orbits electrons can occupy and the amount of energy they can emit or absorb. Gamma and X-rays are far too powerful for electrons to absorb their energy, given the strict parameters of atomic orbital structure (it would be like trying to boost your car with a nuclear warhead). Beta Decay also involves electrons but more specifically refers to the energy spontaneously given off by unstable elements, like uranium, as they gradually transform into more stable "isotopes", or forms of the same element.

From Quiz Is Gravity Always Getting You Down?

Answer: Galileo Galilei

Galileo's ball-rolling experiments led him to the conclusion that gravity accelerates everything at the same rate. This does NOT mean that all objects fall at the same rate though. Velocity is not only affected by acceleration but also by external forces such as air resistance.

From Quiz Nuclear Fusion: How It Works

Answer: proton - proton chain --> helium-4

The proton - proton fusion reaction has a very slow rate of fusion. It occurs in the core of the sun, where the temperature (14 million degrees C) is much colder than fusion can occur in a laboratory setting (200 million degrees C). Gravitational confinement of the fuel and low surface heat loss inside the core (less than one quarter of the heat lost on the surface of the human body) ensure than the reaction meets the Lawson criteria (i.e. a density x energy confinement factor than exceeds a certain number) for fusion. There are other products of fusion reactions such as neutrinos and gamma rays.

From Quiz Structure of an Atom

Answer: atomic mass units (amu)

It is very difficult to measure the exact weight of an atom and hence the weight of an atom is compared to that of a hydrogen anion. Hence, the weight of a neutron is 1 amu and that of an electron is 0.000544 amu. A proton weighs 0.9998 amu. Source: "Chemistry made easier" by Smith.

From Quiz Positive Particle Physics

Answer: quarks

Leptons include electrons, muons, tauons and neutrinos. Gauge is a theory in Particle Physics. Cake, I would definitely like to eat!

From Quiz Subatomic Physics 1

Answer: C. T. R. Wilson

When an electrically charged particle passes through supersaturated vapour, it ionises the vapour's atoms. Droplets of water settle on these ions and trace out the particle's trajectory. This is the principle of the cloud chamber.

From Quiz Boson Buddies

Answer: France

The Large Hadron Collider became the largest machine in the world when it was completed in 2008. It was constructed by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (aka CERN). The Large Hadron Collider has a diameter of 27 km (17 miles) and is located underground on the France-Switzerland border approximately 8 km (5 miles) from the city of Geneva, Switzerland.

From Quiz Quarks and Leptons

Answer: -1/3 e

Despite what students are often taught in their courses on electricity and magnetism, there ARE fractional charges -- charges with magnitude less than an electron or proton charge! These fractional charges are carried only by quarks, elementary spin-1/2 particles that experience all four fundamental forces of nature (the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity). Down quarks have charge -1/3 e, while up quarks have charge +2/3 e. But you can't find quarks by themselves, due to the mysteries of the strong nuclear force. Instead, you always find them in composite particles, which have integer charge. A proton, for example, has two ups and a down, and the total electric charge is (+2/3 e + 2/3 e - 1/3 e) = e. A neutron, with two downs and an up, has a total electric charge of 0.

From Quiz Atoms!

Answer: 7

Because of this feature, halogens are highly reactive, because they only need one electron to fill their shell. They mostly react with alkali metals such as sodium and lithium because alkali metals have one electron in their outer shell. For example, the halogen chlorine bonds with the alkali metal sodium to form salt. Sodium gives its electron to chlorine which now has a full shell. They are both ions now, sodium is positive because it lost an electron and chlorine is negative because it gained an electron. They now have opposite charges and are attracted to each other. This makes them bond and form the compound salt.

From Quiz The Wonders of the Electron

Answer: Positron

A photon is a particle of light and the force carrier for the electromagnetic force. Bosons are a class of subatomic particles which act as force carriers, of which the photon is one. Electrolytes are simply ions in solution which help regulate important physiological functions (e.g. blood pressure).

From Quiz Is Gravity Always Getting You Down?

Answer: Sir Isaac Newton

The equation is as follows: Force ~ M_1*M_2/r^2. This is one of Newton's most famous laws, along with his legendary three laws of motion. This law had a few problems when the gravitational force was very large (large meaning it could be divided by the speed of light squared and still hold some significance), but these problems were fixed by Einstein's general theory of relativity.

From Quiz Big Bang Experiment

Answer: Large Hadron Collider

LHC stands for the Large Hadron Collider. This is a particle accelerator built by CERN for the Big Bang experiment. The collider is meant to be used to make hadrons or protons collide with each other. This collision is meant to recreate the conditions that happened after the original Big Bang. This is to enable scientists to understand more about the creation of the world.

From Quiz Nuclear Fusion: How It Works

Answer: carbon-12, oxygen-16

Beryllium-8 is produced from the fusion of two helium-4 ions. Beryllium-8 has a very short half-life and decays rapidly. In very hot stars (>100 million degrees C and more than 10X the mass of Earth's sun), helium-4 combines with beryllium-8 to form carbon-12. Helium-4 combines with carbon-12 to form oxygen-16. Protons combine with some of these isotopes to produce new isotopes (nitrogen-14, etc.) in the CNO cycle.

From Quiz Subatomic Physics Made Easier

Answer: Hadrons

The strange and quirky names given to subatomic particles can intimidate and confuse the learner and obscure the simplicity of The Standard Model. Two of the quarks were initially named "truth" and "beauty". More sober minded physicists apparently prevailed, and truth and beauty became the top and bottom quark.

From Quiz Positive Particle Physics

Answer: tau

It is 3700 times heavier than the electron, which means it is heavier than a hydrogen atom! However, it has an extremely short lifetime.

From Quiz Inside The Atom

Answer: Charm

Each of the six quarks also has three varieties or 'colours': red, green and blue(visual colour is not meant, but the analogy is useful in many ways).

From Quiz Subatomic Particles II

Answer: Hadrons

There are two kinds of hadrons-- (1) baryons and (2) mesons. A baryon is a three-quark combination. A proton is a baryon consisting of two up quarks and one down, while a neutron is a baryon made up of two downs and one up. A meson is made up of a quark and an antiquark.

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Last Updated Nov 16 2024 5:49 AM

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