The Standard Model: Part 2
On the docket today is the anatomy of an atom!
The outer region of an atom is referred to as its electron shell. As the name suggests, it is composed of electrons which are a type of lepton. The inner region of an atom is known as the nucleus and is composed of neutrons and protons. These neutrons and protons are in turn composed of quarks.
You will never find a quark alone; indeed many maintain that it is impossible to observe an independent quark. Quarks always clump together to form hadrons. Each hadron is classified as either a baryon or a meson, baryons being composed of three quarks and mesons composed of one quark and one antiquark. Protons and neutrons are both examples of baryons while pions and kaons are two common mesons. All hadrons have an electromagnetic charge and a color charge.
Electromagnetic charge is a fundamental property of a subatomic particle. The net electromagnetic charge of a particle determines the nature of its electromagnetic interactions with other particles. Color charge is yet another fundamental property of subatomic particles, determining how a quark interacts and binds with other quarks.
The Strong Interaction is the force that holds quarks together to form hadrons. The force carrier particles that carry out this interaction are referred to as gluons because of their glue-like activity. The force of Strong Interaction is also such that it not only holds hadrons together but also binds groups of hadrons to form the nucleus of an atom.
There you have it, an atom from quark to electron. Next post will be a more in-depth explanation of the interactions and force carrier particles involved in holding an atom together.
The Atom: Simplified
KEY:
Protons = Hot girls
Neutrons = Shoes
Electrons = Guys. Hot or not, doesn’t matter.
Remember this.
So the protons are generally like, wow, I hate you, other competitor for popularity, GTFO. So they repel. BUT THEN THE NEUTRONS COME IN. And the protons are like: OMG, SHOES!!1!! So that’s the only reason they bother to stick together.
Meanwhile, there are the electrons that also hate each other, but they’re around each other only for the protons since they’re like I’M ATTRACTED TO YOU, so they’re circling around the hot girls for an opportunity to sneak in. This is why there is an equal amount of both protons and electrons. Gotta pair off, yeah?
By the way, the protons are too absorbed in their neutrons to care about the electrons.
BONDING:
Covalent Bonds: The electrons are all “Dude, I just noticed that there aren’t enough hot girls to go around for all of us, so I could very possibly not end up with a girlfriend, OOH, LOOK, EVEN HOTTER GIRLS, LET’S GO OVER THERE!” So they fly over and the two groups merge.
Polar: This group has more protons, so the guys are like BRO, LOOK AT ALL THESE HOT GIRLS! Meanwhile, in the other side, not enough protons for the electrons to be happy, so they flee the area. The side with more hot girls are slightly negatively charged because the protons are all “Like, ew, more guys.” The side with a slightly positive charge means that these protons are all “Gawd, they finally left. OMG, I REMEMBER THESE SHOES!!1!!”
The electrons are circling all around the two groups, but tend to stay around the bigger group of protons more. Hey, more hot girls.
Nonpolar: Everyone’s happy, since the energy is shared. Aka, the electrons have even more hot girls to ogle.
Ionic Bonds: The electrons realize that they have no chance at the protons here, so they move to a different group permanently. Energy released = The joy the electron feels because there’s going to be protons within his league. By the way, the protons are still absorbed in their shoes.
GENERAL FACTS:
1) Sometimes, the protons find a crap pair of shoes, so they’re like “Hey boy, get rid of this trash.” Obviously, the electrons obey and throw out the neutrons like the good little slaves they are to boobs positive charges.
2) When there are too many hot proton girls, some electrons are panicking out and grab another electron, saying: “DUDE, BE MY WINGMAN!”
By the way, this whole thing works for just about anything related to the atom.
Information provided by the lovely Sunsetdawn, who I will wake up early for. That’s how much I love her. Less than three, yeah.
“Protons and neutrons, The electron cloud scattered around, Atoms packed and lattices stacked Among billions and trillions of their kind, And around trillions more they wind, And we see that they are formed into this thing, That I and those before me call a guitar string. We think we see this world but we see a fraction of a fraction, And even what we can see is just photonic reactions, And we think that it's gorgeous and that no thing could compare, But how could we ever know when there's so much more out there. Protons and neutrons, The electron cloud scattered around, Carbon and oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, Forming two of the simplest proteins, And stacked together into beta-pleated sheets, And out from my finger grows this thing, That I smack up and down this guitar string. We think we see this world but we see a fraction of a fraction, And even what we can see is just photonic reactions, And we think that it's gorgeous and that no thing could compare, But how could we ever know when there's so much more out there. ”
—Protons and Neutrons - Hank Green
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXCVAPZ3-Mo&feature=BF&list=PL857813CB365326CD&index=7
