Space Is the Place: A Galaxy of Far Out Words: Quantum of Vocabulary: the Parlance of Particle Physics

Even though atoms and their component parts are incredibly tiny, it's impossible to understand the biggest things in the universe —stars, nebulas, and galaxies — without knowing how these invisible particles behave and interact. Up and atom!
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  1. antimatter
    mass consisting of antiparticles of normal substances
    It would be built in an underground tunnel near CERN’s location outside Geneva, Switzerland, and smash together electrons and their antimatter partners, positrons, by the middle of the century. Nature (Jun 23, 2020)
    See matter, below. One of the enduring mysteries in cosmology is why the universe ended up with so much matter and so little antimatter.
  2. atom
    the smallest component of an element
    Quantum tunnelling — when an atom shimmies its way through a barrier in a way forbidden by classical physics — is not instantaneous. Nature (Jul 23, 2020)
    In Ancient Greek atomos meant something that could not be divided into smaller pieces. It turns out that atoms are actually made up of smaller particles — see proton, neutron, and electron on this list — and those are in turn made of still smaller things, but you get the idea.
  3. electron
    an elementary particle with negative charge
    Quantum technology seeks to harness the distinct properties of atoms, photons and electrons to build more powerful computers and other tools for processing information. Washington Post (Jul 23, 2020)
  4. energy
    the capacity of a physical system to do work
    He argues that Biden’s support for the Paris climate accord and other policies would lead to higher energy bills and job cuts. Seattle Times (Jul 24, 2020)
  5. fission
    splitting a massive nucleus with the release of energy
    Most uses of nuclear energy on Earth rely on fission - which breaks down heavier elements into lighter ones - rather than the fusion that occurs in a star. BBC (Jul 15, 2020)
    Fission is "splitting the atom." It releases enormous amounts of energy, which is how atomic bombs work. Einstein's famous E=MC2 equation describes this conversion of mass into energy.
  6. fusion
    reaction in which nuclei combine to form more massive nuclei
    The finding addresses a long-standing mystery about the effect, which underlies everything from photosynthesis to nuclear fusion. Nature (Jul 23, 2020)
  7. isotope
    atom with same atomic number, different number of neutrons
    The isotopes were “certainly nuclear fission products, most likely from a civil source”, it said. Reuters (Jun 29, 2020)
    Some elements, especially radioactive ones, can form different isotopes under certain conditions. Though they have the same properties and atomic number, they have different masses due to a different number of neutrons in their nuclei.
  8. mass
    the property of a body that causes it to have weight
    Body mass index is calculated by dividing a person's mass in kilograms by the square of their height in metres. BBC (Jul 24, 2020)
    Mass is very similar to weight, except that even in outer space, where you'd be weightless, your body would still have the same mass and would thus still behave according to the laws of momentum and inertia.
  9. matter
    that which has mass and occupies space
    It wasn't long before the family learned to keep the windows shut so they wouldn't breathe in particulate matter. Salon (Jul 26, 2020)
    Matter, which describes anything possessing physical substance, comes from the Latin root, materia, meaning "timber" or building material." Materia is in turn built from the word mater, "mother," referring in this case to the trunk of a tree as opposed to its branches: the part from which the best lumber is cut.
  10. neutron
    a subatomic particle with zero charge
    That is heavier than the accepted limit of 2.5 suns for a neutron star. New York Times (Jun 24, 2020)
    From the Latin neutralis, meaning "not on either side" or "neither masculine nor feminine," plus the Greek suffix -on used to designate particles, a neutron is one of the three components of an atom. Where a proton is positively charged and an electron is negative, the neutron is... wait for it... neutral.
  11. nucleus
    the positively charged dense center of an atom
    All stars are fueled by nuclear fusion reactions in which protons combine to form helium nuclei, which in turn fuse to create heavier elements. Scientific American (Jul 9, 2020)
  12. particle
    a body having finite mass but negligible dimensions
    Cosmic rays, or more precisely, the showers of secondary particles they produce, and which are created by this weak force, provide a direct link between the asymmetry of physics and the asymmetry of biology. Scientific American (Jul 22, 2020)
  13. plasma
    a fourth state of matter distinct from solid, liquid or gas
    Except, she added, they are not spherical and were filled not with soap but with plasma, a highly energetic electrified gas. New York Times (Jun 5, 2020)
  14. proton
    a stable particle with positive charge
    The paper, published in Nature's Scientific Reports, theorizes that clusters of protons from the sun may correlate to large earthquakes on Earth. Salon (Jul 21, 2020)
    See neutron, above.
  15. quantum
    the smallest discrete quantity of some physical property
    Nineteenth century physicists never imagined anything like quantum mechanics based what they knew about classical physics. Scientific American (Jul 23, 2020)
  16. quark
    fundamental subatomic particle that has a fractional charge
    Theoretical physicists first proposed the existence of axions in the 1970s in order to resolve problems in the math governing the strong force, which binds particles called quarks together. Scientific American (Jun 17, 2020)
    Quark first appeared in James Joyce's avant-garde novel Finnegan's Wake in 1939. The physicist Murray Gell-Mann used the word to name the component parts of protons and neutrons.
  17. radiation
    energy transmitted in the form of rays or waves or particles
    At very high radiation levels, all life would be destroyed. Scientific American (Jul 22, 2020)
  18. relativity
    the theory that space and time are not absolute concepts
    Evolution, plate tectonics, special relativity, anthropogenic climate change—are all theories that replaced conventional wisdom as the weight of evidence accumulated over the years, decades and sometimes centuries in their favor. Scientific American (Jul 16, 2020)
  19. spectrum
    an ordered array of the components of an emission or wave
    It will study the infrared region of the spectrum. The Guardian (Jul 23, 2020)
    Specere is Latin for "to look." That's also where we get spectacle. Visible light — the colors we can see — exists on a much larger spectrum of electromagnetic waves.
  20. wavelength
    distance between successive crests of a periodic disturbance
    Researchers from Columbia University found that ultraviolet light at a certain wavelength killed more than 99% of seasonal coronaviruses present in airborne droplets. Washington Times (Jul 23, 2020)
Created on Sat Jun 27 16:35:24 EDT 2020 (updated Sun Aug 09 20:18:23 EDT 2020)

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