Elementary particles represent the deepest of nature's mysteries brought out into the open by the efforts of the human mind. They have been defined as basic constituents of matter which cannot be further subdivided and the very concept of’ subdivision’ has been changing with time. Furthermore, the interaction among elementary particles has been inextricably tied with their identities and subdivision and their very existence.
In the early part of the discoveries of elementary particles, their identities were determined by their obvious individual physical attributes, like their masses, charges, spin, etc., they are more appropriately identified today by the classes (groups and symmetries) to which they belong.
All elementary particles interact among themselves through, four type of basic interactions: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong and weak. The first two are familiar. They are known to have an infinite range; that is, their effect goes as 1/rwith the distance and is felt over...
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Varma, R.K. (1998). Elementary particles . In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_94
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