Discovery of the Higgs boson and the buzz around the event has embarrassed lots of geek parents. Being a scientific guru for your children means keeping up-to-date with what is going on. It is not easy when science is moving at such a pace as it is right now. And it is made even more difficult if one needs to deal with quantum physics and the mysterious subatomic world.

1. ALL YOU WANT TO KNOWABOUT SUBATOMIC PARTICLES
BUT ARE AFRAID TO ASK
ALL YOU WANT TO KNOWABOUT SUBATOMIC PARTICLES
BUT ARE AFRAID TO ASK
and your
kids!
A quick guide for the parents of curious kids

2. 2
Discovery of the Higgs boson and the
buzz around the event has embarrassed lots
of geek parents. Being a scientific guru for your
children means keeping up-to-date with what is
going on. It is not easy when science is moving
at such a pace as it is right now. And it is made
even more difficult if one needs to deal with
quantum physics and the mysterious subatomic
world.
No matter how strange this world is, it
is also, without a doubt, extremely interesting.
We have put this short guide together for those
parents that don’t have a PhD in physics but
wouldstillliketotellatrue,ifsimplified,storyofthe
unseen world of elementary particles. No matter
how strange it sounds, reading these questions
with your kids might be a very entertaining way
of spending time together. Enjoy!

3. 3
The strongest electron microscopes are capable of seeing things that are
hundreds of thousands times smaller than a body cell. But still, this is not enough.
With this equipment even a single atom can be seen. But there is no way to look
inside the atoms where there are particles that are hundreds of thousands of times
smaller again! It’s amazing that we actually know that, without actually seeing it!
Well, they are small. I mean, seriously small. They are so small that they
can’t be seen at all. Only the best optical microscopes, fluorescence microscopes,
can see the detailed structure of your body cells. As is well known, the cells are tiny.
They are tens of thousands of times smaller than a grain of sand. This microscopes
aresogoodthattheinventorsgotaNobelprizein2014fortheirwork,butcomparing
to atomic scale they were far, far away from the point.
How small are the smallest particles?How small are the smallest particles?

4. 4
Atoms were claimed to be the smallest elements in the world. For centuries
people imagined them as small spheres of matter that are “glued” together to
form more complex stuff. But the atom was not to be divided. All the way into
the late nineteenth century, that is. At that point the first subatomic particle was
discovered. It was called an electron and we now know that it is responsible for the
phenomenon of electricity.
So what is inside the atom?So what is inside the atom?
For a few years people believed that inside the atom the electrons orbit
around the nuclei, similar to planets orbiting around the sun. Then scientists
discovered that nuclei are made from protons and neutrons and started to smash
them against each other. And the fun began! Why? Because after the collisions
they found out that there are even smaller particles and that they behave strangely,
and that the whole world needed a brand new way to describe it. This is how the
Standard Model was born.

5. 5
This is a theory about how the world on the smallest scale is built. It
names base forces that work a on subatomic level. It also names the elementary
particles from which all matter and antimatter is made. It is regarded as a theory of
almost everything. Scientists have not been able to find a way to claim it is wrong.
Funnily enough, any experiment that is run based on this theory proves this with
unexpected precision. Some of the particles predicted in this theory were actually
discovered much later. Like top quark,tau neutrino or the recently discovered Higgs
boson. But wait ... there some phenomena which require extension of the Standard
Model and then additional particles are predicted.
What is the Standard Model?What is the Standard Model?

6. 6
It depends on whether we count the ones that have been proven to exist
in experiments or we expect to exist based on some theory. Let’s stick to the
first definition. If we count all the types and variations of the elementary particles
we will end up with the 30! That is a lot comparing to the original elementary
particles (proton, neutron, electron and photon)! They could be divided into two
large families: fermions and bosons. In simple words the difference is that the very
same bosons can exist in the very same place whereas fermions cannot.
Still unclear… Well… The Standard Model is based on Quantum Physics.
It is, to put it bluntly, not based on common sense. The rules allow two bosons to
coexist in the very same state. In fact, they are indistinguishable from each other.
In opposite to fermions that behave much more like we would expect (not the
same particle in the same time in the same place, which is logical and very polite
of them). Bosons work as force carriers and we can match all the forces we know
on this scale to have corresponding boson particles.
How many elementary subatomic
particles do we already know?
How many elementary subatomic
particles do we already know?

7. 7
Nowadaysweknowfourofthem:suchaselectromagnetic,strongandweakforce and gravity. However, gravity is still unclear. We can name and detect bosonsthat works with rest of them. Photon is the boson that carries electromagneticforce. This is exactly the same one that is responsible for carrying light. So, it mightbe no surprise that light is a form of electromagnetic interaction.
Other bosons like Boson Z or Boson W are responsible for weak forceand Gluons are responsible for strong force interaction inside the atom nucleus.Even the Higgs particle is a kind of boson, though somewhat different. All of theminteract with at least some of the elementary fermions.
What are the forces in the
subatomic scale?
What are the forces in the
subatomic scale?

8. 8
Definitely. At least one of them. I am pretty sure you know what an electron
is. If you are lucky you might also have heard about quarks. There are 6 different
quarks and similar to electrons they have an electric charge. Three of the quarks
are positive: up, charm and top and three are negative: down, strange and bottom.
An electron is also negative. There are two additional particles alongside electrons
within the charged leptons family: tau and muon, and both of them are negative.
There are chargeless leptons as well and they are called neutrinos.
But what is fascinating is that all of these particles have their antiparticles.
Yes! They seems to have all the same properties except one that has a opposite
sign. In the case of electrons it is an electric charge. A particle that behaves as a
positively charged electron is called a positron and is actually an antiparticle of an
electron. When they meet they are annihilated. Literally. There were two particles-
blink- no particles… Just some energy being produced in the form of at least two
photons. No doubt physicists love these kinds of experiments! (Remember,blowing
things up is science if you note the effects down).
Elementary fermions? Do I know them?Elementary fermions? Do I know them?

9. 9
No!Evennowweknowthattherearethingsthathumans’mostsophisticated
theories can not yet grasp. It doesn’t really include gravity. Yeaah! We still don’t
know exactly why the apple drops from the tree! It can say nothing about the Dark
Energy and Dark Matter that we knew exists within the Universe. Theoretist are
working on an extension of the Standard Model (such as Supersymmetry) but, at
the moment, the Standard Model is the king. But who knows for how long!
Is the Standard Model complete?Is the Standard Model complete?

10. 10
Well, this is just the beginning of this wonderful journey through the subatomic
particle world. Below you may find a quick puzzle game to check which of you:
grown-up or child has so far remembered most from this hidden universe:
Are there neutral leptons?
They are called neutrinos!
YES
Is the Higgs particle a boson?
Not exactly the same as e.g. a
photon but still in the same family
YES
Is antimatter real?
We can even see how it
annihilates real matter.
YES
Are atoms visible with light?
Not with light, you need electron
beams to look at matter on this scale.
NO
Is a Proton an elementary
particle?
For long time people claimed so,
but now we know that it consists of
quarks.NO
Is gravity defined in the
Standard Model?
Not really as we are still missing the
discovery of graviton (which would
prove gravity definitively).NO

11. 11
Is the Neutron part of the
atom nuclei?
Along with the proton it forms a nuclei,
however both are not really elementary
particles but are build up from quarks.
YES
Is a photon a particle that
carries light?
Along with any other
electromagnetic force interactions.
YES
Is there something like a
top quark?
It is the latest quark discovered so
far… and the heaviest, by the way.
YES
Are quarks electrically
charged?
All of them! Some are positive
and some are negative.
YES
Is the strong force stronger
than the weak force?
As expected, I guess. A bit
of a trivial one :)
YES
Is neutrino part of the atom
nuclei?
But it is easily confused with a neutron.
Scientists, being constantly busy, rarely
have time for inventive naming.
NO
Is there something like Dark
Side of the Force?
At least physicist don’t believe so. However,
they do agree that Dark Matter or Dark
Energy might have it’s place in the Universe.
NO
Do Gluons carry a weak force
within an atom nuclei?
Gluons carry strong force and are
actually a GLUE that keeps the
quarks togetherNO

12. 12
This ebook is a part of the Publish or Perish project. We aim to develop the first
hybrid boardgame for little scientists! To learn more, visit us at:
PublishOrPerishTheGame.comPublishOrPerishTheGame.com
©2015 Copyrights by Rombo Games LTD
This work may be reproduced and redistributed, in whole or in part, without alteration and without prior
written permission, provided all copies contain the following statement: “© 2015 Rombo Games LTD. This
work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of the Rombo Games LTD.”
Rombo Games LTD
Kendals Close 35
Radlett, England WD7 8NQ
United Kingdom
Project supported by The Henryk Niewodniczański
Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of
Sciences in Kraków.
Publish or Perish is a game that combines different techniques, traditional cards and new mobile devices. But the main
advantage of it is, that it allows the players to become scientists discovering properties of the building blocks of our world.
One can learn about elementary particles and then plan some experiments and analyse their results. Players are trying to
determine the values of new properties of particles, which were not even imagined by scientists yet. Like in the scientific
world the findings are published. Both cooperation and competition is possible which gives additional flavour to the game.
dr hab. Krzysztof Woźniak, prof IFJ PAN