Peter EylandIn 1932 the atom was thought to be simply protons and neutro ns in the nucleus, with electrons in energy levels around it. Then chaos de scended with multitudes of particles and the idea of probabilities determin ing things. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “out of clutter find simplicity”, so this is an attempt at that.
The elementary part icles of matter are now grouped as Hadrons (“bulky things”) and Leptons (“light bits”). The Hadrons are further split into Bar yons (“heavy weights”) and Mesons (“middle weights” ).
However, it was found that Hadrons were made from more funda
mental particles called Quarks, which have both electric charge and “
colour" charge. What binds the Quarks within a Hadron are some kinds of &ld
quo;glue” particles.
Leaving aside gravity, the elementary part icles interact with three forces called the Strong Nuclear force, the Weak Nuclear force and the Electromagnetic force.
The Strong Nuclear force binds nuclei together and the fusion of nuclei by stars creates heat, ligh t and all the elements that naturally exist.
Because of the Weak Nucl
ear force, if you could collect a bucket of neutrons, only half of them wou
ld be left in ten minutes, because they would decay into protons by emittin
g electrons.
When two protons are together, the Weak Nuclear force can
cause one proton to decay into a neutron and the Strong Force can hold tha
t proton and neutron together. Without that, Hydrogen can’t fuse into
Helium and there would be no stars and no planets.
The Electromagnet ic force creates electric forces, electric current and magnetism. In partic ular, it controls the behaviour of plasma (an ionic gas) within magnetic fi elds, which is central to our understanding of the formation of stars and p lanets. It can generate visible light as well as other non-visible radiatio n. It binds atoms together into molecules and life. It also stops us from f alling through the floor.
Peter Eylandwas an academic in the School of Physics at UNSW for 35 years full time, and spent 10 years as a casual academic after his retir ement. He has been active in a number of clubs and societies as Board membe r, management committee, etc. His qualifications include B.Sc. UNSW (Physic s and Maths), M.Physics UNSW, B.D. Hons London, Th.L. Hons Aust Coll Theol, M.A. Macquarie (Ancient History).
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:In 1932 the atom was thought to be simply protons and neutro ns in the nucleus, with electrons in energy levels around it. Then chaos de scended with multitudes of particles and the idea of probabilities determin ing things. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “out of clutter find simplicity”, so this is an attempt at that.
The elementary part icles of matter are now grouped as Hadrons (“bulky things”) and Leptons (“light bits”). The Hadrons are further split into Bar yons (“heavy weights”) and Mesons (“middle weights” ).
However, it was found that Hadrons were made from more funda
mental particles called Quarks, which have both electric charge and “
colour" charge. What binds the Quarks within a Hadron are some kinds of &ld
quo;glue” particles.
Leaving aside gravity, the elementary part icles interact with three forces called the Strong Nuclear force, the Weak Nuclear force and the Electromagnetic force.
The Strong Nuclear force binds nuclei together and the fusion of nuclei by stars creates heat, ligh t and all the elements that naturally exist.
Because of the Weak Nucl
ear force, if you could collect a bucket of neutrons, only half of them wou
ld be left in ten minutes, because they would decay into protons by emittin
g electrons.
When two protons are together, the Weak Nuclear force can
cause one proton to decay into a neutron and the Strong Force can hold tha
t proton and neutron together. Without that, Hydrogen can’t fuse into
Helium and there would be no stars and no planets.
The Electromagnet ic force creates electric forces, electric current and magnetism. In partic ular, it controls the behaviour of plasma (an ionic gas) within magnetic fi elds, which is central to our understanding of the formation of stars and p lanets. It can generate visible light as well as other non-visible radiatio n. It binds atoms together into molecules and life. It also stops us from f alling through the floor.
Peter Eylandwas an academic in the School of Physics at UNSW for 35 years full time, and spent 10 years as a casual academic after his retirement. He has been active in a number of clubs and societies as Board member, management committee, etc. His qualifications in clude B.Sc. UNSW (Physics and Maths), M.Physics UNSW, B.D. Hons London, Th. L. Hons Aust Coll Theol, M.A. Macquarie (Ancient History).
DTSTAMP:20260622T162727 DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Sydney:20180705T193000 DTEND;TZID=Australia/Sydney:20180705T213000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR