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Particles
 Types
• There are different types of particles discovered in an atom.

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Few of them are elementary whereas other are formed by

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combining the elementary particles.

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➢Leptons
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➢Quarks
➢Hadrons
 Leptons
• These are the elementary particles which are not made up of other

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particles. There are six leptons:

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−
➢Electron 0e or e

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-1
➢Electron neutrino 0V
0 e

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➢Muon µ-

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➢Muon neutrino Fa 0V
0 µ
➢Tau τ-
➢Tau neutrino 0V
0 τ
 Antimatter
• Of every matter there is an antimatter. So there are anti-leptons as

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well.

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➢Positron e+

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➢Electron Antineutrino

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➢Anti-Muon

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➢Muon Antineutrino
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➢Anti-Tau
➢Tau Antineutrino
Symbols for Leptons and Anti-Leptons

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 Quarks
• These are the fundamental particles which are not made up of other

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smaller particles but they combine to form other particles: Hadrons

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• Like all other types of matter there is antimatter of quarks as well.

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• Anti-quarks are the anti-particles

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• Its only the charge on the anti-quarks which is opposite to the charge
on the quarks.
• The charge on quarks is not QUANTISED
What is meant by “Quantized Charge”?
• The charge exists only in discrete values.

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• The quantity of the charge which is an integer

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multiple of “e” (the elementary charge).

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• The charge on a body/particle can be e, 2e, 3e or
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4e and so on.
 Quarks and antiquarks
Quarks Antiquarks

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• Up u • Anti-up
2 2
− 𝑒

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• Top t + 𝑒 • Anti-top
3 3
• Charm c • Anti-charm

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• Anti-down

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1
• Down d Fa • Anti-bottom + 𝑒
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1 • Anti-strange
• Bottom b − 𝑒 The symbols of antiquarks
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• Strange s have a BAR over them
 Hadrons
• Hadrons are the particles made up of quarks

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There are two types of hadrons
➢Baryons

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These are the particles which are made up of 3 quarks
Protons and Neutrons are Baryons

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➢Mesons Fa
These are the particles which are made up of a Quark and an Antiquark
π-meson is an example
 Formation of Baryons
• Proton = up up down quark (u u d)

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• Neutron = up down down quarks (u d d)

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• Antiproton = 2 anti-up and 1 anti-down quarks ( )

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• Antineutron = 1 anti-up and 2 anti-down quarks ( )
 Quark Composition of Alpha
• An alpha particle is made up of 2 protons and 2

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neutrons

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2 (uud) + 2 (udd)

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= 6 u 6d
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 Yours Turn
•How many down quarks are in a nucleus of

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hydrogen-3, 13H

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•A 2 B3 C4 D5
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Fa
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Another
 Try to Understand This One
• A certain type of hadron has zero charge. It is composed of a down

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quark, a strange quark and one other quark.

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• What could be the other quark?

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1 1
X− 𝑒− 𝑒 =0
3 3

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2
X− 𝑒 =0

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3
Fa X
2
= 𝑒
3
So it can either up or top or charm quark
 Mesons
• The particles made up of a quark and an antiquark.

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➢ A π+ meson is made up of an up quark and a down antiquark.

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➢ A ∅ meson is made up of a strange quark and an antistrange quark.

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 Groups of Forces
• Strong nuclear force

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• Weak nuclear force

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• Electromagnetic force

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• Gravitational force
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• Alpha decay takes place under the strong
nuclear force.
 The Strong Nuclear Force
• A stable isotope has nuclei that do not disintegrate, so

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there must be a force holding them together. We call

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this force the strong nuclear force because it

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overcomes the electrostatic force of repulsion

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between the protons in the nucleus and keeps the

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protons and neutrons together.
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 β- decay
• It’s a weak nuclear interaction
• A down quark (d) decays into an up quark (u) converting a neutron

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into a proton.

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• Neutron turns into a proton and nucleus emits an electron and

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electron antineutrino.

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 β + decay
• An up quark is converted into a down quark with the emission of
positron and electron neutrino.

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• Proton is converted into a neutron while releasing a positron (e+) and

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an electron neutrino (Ve)

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• Weak nuclear force is involved. (weak nuclear interaction)
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• Positron is beta (+ve)
 Note
• The existence of the neutrino was hypothesised to

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account for conservation of momentum and energy in

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beta decay.

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• Beta particles are emitted with range of

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speeds/energies and this gave the idea to the

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scientists that there must be something which is
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emitted along with beta which shares the energy.
Then beta neutrinos were discovered more than 20
years after their prediction.
• When the energy spectrum of beta particles was first measured, it was

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found that beta particles were released with kinetic energies up to a

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maximum that depended on the isotope.
• The scientists at the time were puzzled why the energy of the beta particles

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varied up to a maximum, when each unstable nucleus lost a certain
amount of energy in the process.

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• Either energy and momentum were not conserved in the change or some

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of each were carried away by mystery particles, which they called
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neutrinos and antineutrinos.
• This hypothesis was unproven for over 20 years until antineutrinos were
detected.
Beta (+ve) decay is some what like electron
capture.

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 Particles & Antiparticles
• Antimatter was predicted in 1928 by the English physicist Paul Dirac,

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before the first antiparticle, the positron, was discovered.

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• Dirac’s theory of antiparticles predicted that for every type of particle

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there is a corresponding antiparticle that:
➢annihilates the particle and itself if they meet, converting their total mass into

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photons.

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➢has exactly the same rest mass as the particle.
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➢has exactly opposite charge to the particle if the particle has a charge.
 Annihilation
• Annihilation occurs when a particle and a corresponding antiparticle

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meet and their mass is converted into radiation energy. Two photons

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are produced in this process (as a single photon cannot ensure a total

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momentum of zero after the collision).
• The two produces photons move with equal momentum but in

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opposite direction, in order to conserve the momentum.

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• Energy of each photon is half of the total energy of annihilating
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particle-antiparticle. (E= mc2)
• No calculations by E= mc2 are needed in our syllabus.
Annihilation

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 Pair Production
• Dirac predicted that a photon with sufficient energy passing near a

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nucleus or an electron can suddenly change into a particle–antiparticle

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pair, which would then separate from each other.

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• In pair production, a photon creates a particle and a corresponding
antiparticle, and vanishes in the process.

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• For a particle and antiparticle, each of rest energy E0, we can calculate

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the minimum energy and minimum frequency fmin that the photon
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must have to produce this particle–antiparticle pair. Remember, c is the
speed of light in a vacuum (3.00 ×108ms–1).
• Minimum energy of photon needed = hfmin = 2E0
 Example
• The electron has a rest energy of 0.511MeV. Therefore, for pair

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production of an electron and a positron from a photon:

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Minimum energy of a photon = 2 × 0.511 MeV

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= 1.022 MeV

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= 1.64 ×10–13 J

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• A photon with less than above energy could not therefore create a
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positron and an electron.
Pair Production

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 The inverse square law for γ radiation
• The intensity of radiation, I, is the radiation energy per second passing

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normally through unit area.

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• For a point source that emits n γ photons per second, each of energy

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hf, the radiation energy per second from the source = nhf
• At distance r from the source, all the photons emitted from the

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source pass through a total area of 4πr2 (the surface area of a sphere

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of radius r). Fa
 More over
• If the intensity at distance r0 is I0, then:

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at distance 2r0, the intensity is l0/4

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at distance 3r0, the intensity is l0/9

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 Background Radiation
• We are all subject to background radiation which

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occurs naturally due to cosmic radiation and from

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radioactive materials in rocks, soil, and in the air.

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Background radiation varies with location due to local

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geological features. For example, radon gas, which is

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radioactive, can accumulate in poorly ventilated areas
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of buildings in certain locations.
 Storage of Radioactive Materials
• Storage of radioactive materials should be in lead-lined containers.

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• Most radioactive sources produce γ radiation as well as α or β radiation

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• so the lead lining of a container must be thick enough to reduce the γ

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radiation from the sources in the container to about the background level.
• In addition, regulations require that the containers are under lock and key,

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and that a record of the sources is kept.

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• Solid sources should be transferred using handling tools such as tongs or a
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glove-box or using robots.
• Liquid and gas sources and solids in powder form should be in sealed
containers. This is to ensure radioactive gas cannot be breathed in and
radioactive liquid cannot be splashed on the skin or drunk.
 Thickness Monitoring
• Metal foil is manufactured by using rollers to squeeze plate metal on
a continuous production line. A detector measures the amount of

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radiation passing through the foil. If the foil is too thick, the detector

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reading drops. A signal from the detector is fed back to the control
system to make the rollers move closer together and so make the foil

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thinner. The source used is a β emitter with a long half-life. Alpha

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radiation would be absorbed completely by the foil and γ radiation
would pass straight through without absorption. A similar process is

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used in the process used to manufacture paper.
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 Power sources for remote devices
• Satellites, weather sensors, and other remote devices

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can be powered using a radioactive isotope in a

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thermally insulated sealed container which absorbs all

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the radiation emitted by the isotope. A thermocouple

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attached to the container produces electricity as a

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result of the container becoming warm through
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absorbing radiation.
 Nuclear Excited States
• After an unstable nucleus emits an α or a β particle or undergoes

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electron capture, it might emit a γ photon. Emission of a γ photon

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does not change the number of protons or the number of neutrons in

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the nucleus but it does allow the nucleus to lose energy. This happens
if the ‘daughter’ nucleus is formed in an excited state after it emits an

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α or a β particle or undergoes electron capture.

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• The excited state is usually short lived and the nucleus moves to its
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lowest energy state, its ground state, either directly or via one or
more lower-energy excited states.
 The Technetium Generator
• The technetium generator is used in hospitals to produce a source

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which emits γ radiation only. Some radioactive isotopes such as the

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technetium isotope 9943Tc (technetium-99m) form in an excited state
after an α emission or a β emission and stay in the excited state long

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enough to be separated from the parent isotope. Such a long-lived
excited state is said to be a metastable state.

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• Nuclei of the technetium isotope 9943Tc form in a metastable state

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(indicated by the symbol 9943Tcm) after β emission from nuclei of the
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molybdenum isotope 9942Mo which has a half-life of 67 hours. The
metastable state 9943Tcm has a half-life of 6 hours and decays to the
ground state by γ emission.
 Medical Diagnosis
• Technetium 9943Tc in the ground state is a β emitter with a half-life of

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500000 years and it forms a stable product. Therefore, a sample of

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99 Tc with no molybdenum present effectively emits only γ photons.
43

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Such samples of technetium 9943Tcm are used in medical diagnosis
applications.

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