In This Topic
• Accepting the atom and examining its parts – Applying quantum physics to the atom’s bits and pieces Categorizing particles into bosons and fermions Using the Standard Model to reveal four forces of physics Pondering the range of energies and masses observed
Buring the mid-1900s, physicists further explored the foundations of quantum physics and the components of matter. They focused on the study of particles in a field that became known as particle physics. More of these itty-bitty particles seemed to spring up every time physicists looked for them! By 1974, physicists had determined a set of rules and principles called the Standard Model of particle physics — a model that includes all interactions except for gravity.
Here I explore the Standard Model of particle physics and how it relates to string theory. Any complete string theory will have to include the features of the Standard Model and also extend beyond it to include gravity as well. In this topic, I describe the structure of the atom, including the smaller particles contained within it, and the scientific methods used to explain the interactions holding matter together. I identify the two categories of particles that exist in our universe, fermions and bosons, and the different rules they follow. Finally, I point out the problems that remain from the Standard Model, which string theory hopes to resolve.
The topics related to the development of the Standard Model of particle physics are detailed and fascinating in their own right, but this topic is about string theory. So my review of the material in this topic is necessarily brief and is in no way intended to be a complete look at the subject. Many of the initial topics regarding the discovery of the structure of the atom are recounted in Einstein For topic (Wiley), and many other popular topics are available to explore some of the more involved concepts of particle physics that come along later.
