Topic 2: Quarks And Leptons

Question 1

Muon

Answer 1

A lepton which is negatively charged and has a greater rest mass than the electron

Question 2

Pion

Answer 2

A meson that consists of an up or down quark and an up or down antiquark

Question 3

Kaon

Answer 3

A meson that consists of a strange quark or antiquark and another quark or antiquark

Question 4

Meson

Answer 4

A hadron consisting of a quark and an antiquark

Question 5

Hadron

Answer 5

Particles and antiparticles that can interact through the strong interaction

Question 6

Lepton

Answer 6

Particles and antiparticles that cannot interact through the strong interaction. They interact through the weak interaction and, in the case of electrons and positrons, through the electromagnetic interaction. Electrons, muons, neutrinos and their antiparticles are classified as leptons.

Question 7

Baryon

Answer 7

A hadron consisting of three quarks

Question 8

Quark

Answer 8

Protons, neutrons and other hadrons consist of quarks. There are 6 types: up, down, strange, charmed, top and bottom

Question 9

Strangeness number

Answer 9

A strangeness number is assigned to every particle and antiparticle on the basis that strangeness is always conserved in the strong interaction, but not necessarily in a weak interaction or a decay involving a strange quark or antiquark

Question 10

Conservation rules

Answer 10

Conservation of energy, charge and, baryon number and lepton numbers applies to all particle interactions. Conservation of strangeness applies to strong interaction only