Elemental Particles

Diagram showing the types of Elementary Particles

An elementary particle is a subatomic particles whose structure is unknown, however, there is string theory; claiming that all matter in the universe and subatomic particles are made out of 11-dimensional strings that vibrate in different portions of energy.

Standard Model

The three colors which usually represent Quarks

The Standard Model is the theoretical classification describing all the currently known elementary particles. The standard model includes quarks, the building blocks of protons and neutrons.

Quarks

There are six «flavors» of quarks:

• Up
• Down
• Top
• Bottom
• Strange
• Charm

There are two down quarks and one up quark in a neutron and two up quarks and one down quarks in a proton.

Leptons

Leptons are elementary particles (fermions) with spin 1/2 that are not affected by strong nuclear forces. They include electrons, as well as neutrinos, which only interact by gravity.

Bosons

Bosons include fundamental particles such as photons (which make up Light), W and Z bosons, and the Higgs Boson, which is responsible for mass.