GHOST PARTICLES

 

What are the Ghost particles and why are they so named?

We know the electron which is negatively charged and has a minute mass. 9.11* 10^-31  Kg. While the Neutrinos are electrically neutral, they have a mass of only 1.25*10^{-35 Kg}.

That means the weight of a Neutrino is about 73000 times less than that of the Electron when the Electron itself has a minute mass. They are produced in the process of decay of the heavier particles.

Since these particles are electrically neutral, they do not interact with anything. They are the most common particles in the Universe.  

They are tough to detect because they rarely collide with atoms.

Because of their lack of electric charge and their minute mass, about 100 trillion, neutrinos pass completely harmlessly through our body every second. In our numerals, this figure would be 1 crore crores. And that many neutrinos pass through our body each second without us even noticing it.  

Sometimes Neutrinos interact with water molecules. That is why China is building an underwater ghost molecule telescope in the South China Sea.

Currently, the largest Neutrino detecting telescope is developed by the University of Madison and is located in the Antarctic. Its sensors span around 1 cubic Km, and China claims its telescope will span 75 cubic Km when completed in this decade.

Scientists do not know why the massively abundant Neutrinos act the way they do. They defy the established rules of Physics.

 There was a time when people thought they knew everything about fundamental particles when they came to know about the Electron, Proton and the Neutron.

But as science and research progressed the number of fundamental particles expanded. With what is known as of today, there are 31 particles of which 25 are fundamental in the Universe.

Let us see what they are.

Scientists have classified two fundamental types of particles; 

1. Matter Particles 

2. Force Particles.

Some of the Matter particles combine to produce the world around us.

In the force particles one, the Photon is responsible for electromagnetic radiation.

Matter particles are known as Fermions, and the Force particles are known as Bosons.

MATTER PARTCILES or FERMIONS: .

Fermions are divided into 1. Leptons &  2. Hadrons

 

The Leptons  are divided into

1. Electrons,

2. Muons,

3. Tau,

4. Electron Neutrino,

5. Muon Neutrino

6. Tau Neutrino

 

The Hadrons are divided into 

1.  Baryons   

2.  Mesons

The Baryons in turn are divided into

     1. Proton

           2. Neutron

           3.  Lamda

           4. Omega

     5. Up Quark

           6. Down Quark

           7. Top Quark

           8. Bottom Quark

     9. Charm Quark

         10. Strange Quark

The Mesons are divided into

1.       1. Pion

2.       2. Kaon

3.       3. B-zero

4.       4. Ela C

FORCE PARTCILES or BOSONS: .

The Bosons are divided into

1.       1. Photon

2.       2. W- Boson

3.       3. W+ Boson

4.       4. Z⁰ Boson

5.       5. Gluon

So there are currently 25 fundamental particles in the Universe governing Matter & Force. Of them, 20 are Fermions & 5 are Bosons.