particles and waves (part 1)

Question 1

what is a magnetic field?

Answer 1

produced when currents flow through a wire

Question 2

what do particle accelerators do?

Answer 2

accelerate elementary particles to very high energies (electrons or protons)

Question 3

3 types of particle accelerators

Answer 3

linear accelerator
cyclotron
synchrotron

Question 4

how particle accelerators work

Answer 4

use electric fields to speedup and increase energy of a beam of particles

electromagnets are used to keep beam of particles confined within accelerator

beam is accelerated within a vacuum as any air or dust particles would obstruct its path

Question 5

2 purposes of particle accelerators

Answer 5

research into fundamental particles
electron beams used to alter properties of plastics or harden surfaces

Question 6

3 medical purposes of particle accelerators

Answer 6

producing radioisotopes
producing electrons and protons for medical treatment
medical sterilisation

Question 7

what is all matter made from

Answer 7

fermions

Question 8

4 types of bosons and their associations

Answer 8

gluon (strong force)
w and z bosons (weak nuclear force)
graviton (gravitational force)
photon (electromagnetic force)

Question 9

2 bosons with short range and where they act

Answer 9

gluon (acts between quarks)
w and z bosons (acts between leptons)

Question 10

2 bosons with infinite range

Answer 10

graviton
photon

Question 11

2 types of fermions

Answer 11

leptons
quarks

Question 12

4 types of leptons

Answer 12

electron
muon
tau
neutrino

Question 13

6 types of quarks

Answer 13

up
down
strange
charm
top
bottom

Question 14

what do quarks combine to form?

Answer 14

hadrons

Question 15

2 types of hadrons

Answer 15

baryons
mesons

Question 16

baryon factfile

Answer 16

made up of 3 quarks
e.g. protons and neutrons
stable

Question 17

meson factfile

Answer 17

made up of 1 quark and 1 antiquark
e.g. pions and kaons
unstable

Question 18

what evidence is there for the existence of quarks?

Answer 18

high energy collisions between electrons and nucleons
(particles found in the nucleus, e.g. protons)

Question 19

3 quarks with +2/3 charge

Answer 19

up
charm
top

Question 20

3 quarks with -1/3 charge

Answer 20

down
strange
bottom

Question 21

what are leptons?

Answer 21

fundamental particles that cannot be broken down into other particles

Question 22

what do muons and taus do?

Answer 22

unstable and decay into electrons

Question 23

neutrino fact file

Answer 23

beta decay first evidence of neutrino
no charge so don’t interact with any other particle
mostly produced in particle decay

Question 24

what happens when a particle and its antiparticle meet?

Answer 24

annihilate each other
mass turns to energy
this energy forms other particles

Question 25

example of particle and antiparticle annihilation

Answer 25

electron and positron form 2 photons

Question 26

4 fundamental forces

Answer 26

strong nuclear
weak nuclear
gravity
electromagnetic

Question 27

2 purposes of strong nuclear force

Answer 27

holds quarks together to form hadrons
holds particles of same charge together

Question 28

what is the weak nuclear force involved in?

Answer 28

beta decay

Question 29

2 purposes of electromagnetic force

Answer 29

stops electrons being ejected from atom
force between electronically charge particles (ions)

Question 30

purpose of gravitational force

Answer 30

attract particles that have mass and holds matter together
weakest fundamental force

Question 31

what does the mass number represent?

Answer 31

total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus

Question 32

what does the atomic number represent?

Answer 32

total number of protons

Question 33

what are isotopes of an element?

Answer 33

same atomic number, different mass number

Question 34

what happens in alpha decay?

Answer 34

atomic number decreases by 2
mass number decreases by 4
(most ionising of all nuclear decay)

Question 35

what happens in beta decay?

Answer 35

mass number unchanged
atomic number increases by 1

Question 36

what happens in gamma decay?

Answer 36

atomic and mass numbers unchanged
often also involves gamma radiation

Question 37

what is nuclear fission?

Answer 37

breaking up of a large nucleus into smaller nuclei

Question 38

2 types of fission

Answer 38

spontaneous fission- nucleus breaks down without external influence

induced fission- nucleus breaks down after being bombarded with a neutron

Question 39

what takes place in a nuclear reactor?

Answer 39

induced fission as a neutron is fired at a uranium nucleus, breaking it into two parts- releasing further neutrons and energy

mass and atomic number conserved

Question 40

what happens when you accurately compare masses before and after fission?

Answer 40

mass before fission is greater than total mass of products

Question 41

what is nuclear fusion?

Answer 41

two small nuclei fuse to create one larger nuclei + energy

Question 42

what 2 things is fusion responsible for?

Answer 42

powers stars at very high pressures and temperatures

all elements of universe were formed from original simple particles present in the big bang

Question 43

example of nuclear fusion`

Answer 43

in the suns core, hydrogen nuclei fuse to form helium nuclei and release vast amounts of energy

Question 44

how is energy released in E=mc^2

Answer 44

mass lost is converted to energy