You might have studied that an atom is made up of proton, neutron and electron. This already contradicts the taught fact that atom is the smallest particle of matter. But it goes even further – Standard model based on quantum field theory tells us about the particles which make up protons and neutrons, and carry the fundamental forces of universe.
Quarks:-
•These are the particles which make up neutrons and protons – all visible matter.
•The up and down quark specifically makes neutrons and protons.
•The rest of the quarks make various other kinds of matter which are theorised such as strange matter.
Leptons:-
•These include the electro negative particles and neutrinos of the universe – electron is a part of it
•Muons are like bigger electrons and taus are bigger muons.
•Subsequently taus have the shortest lifespan and muons have shorter than electron.
•The neutrinos are very small particles which are hard to detect as they are neutral.
Gauge Bosons:-
These are the particles which carry the fundamental forces of the universe which include
1. Strong nuclear force – Gluons(They bind the up and down quarks together to form proton and neutron).
2. Electromagnetic force – Photons(Carrier of electromagnetic radiation).
3. Weak nuclear force – W and Z bosons(Cause the decay of atoms).
4. Gravitational force – Graviton(Still theorised and not a part of standard model ‘yet’).
The God particle:-
•The Higgs boson was theoretically proposed in the 1960s and was later confirmed at the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) in the year 2012.
•This Higgs boson makes up the Higgs field which provides mass to the particles of the entire universe.
•As particles move through this field, they acquire mass.
•Particles like photon which have no mass, do not interact with this field.
•This was concluded to be the one of the biggest discoveries of LHC and completed the standard model.
