- Mediator family
Elementary particles can be divided into three ways according to their mass, charge and spin, namely:a.Mediators
b.Leptons
c.Hadron
:i) Baryons
:ii) MesonsMediators
Mediators are those particles that interact with fundamental forces of Nature. They fall under the
Boson family meaining they followbose-einstein statistics . There are six mediators today, namely:
a.Photon
::Photons (γ) are massless (rest mass), chargeless and stable particles with infinite lifetime. They interact electromagnetic radiation with other particles.b.Gluon
::Gluons(G) are also massless (rest mass), chargeless and stable particles with infinite lifetime. They interact or mediate Strong nuclear force or simply Strong force with other particle.c.W Particle
::c. +W Particles::d. -W Particles:::Two kinds of W Particles exist with +1 and −1 elementary units of electric charge; the W+ is the antiparticle of the W−. Both particles are very short-lived with a mean life of about 3×10−25 s.These bosons are heavyweights among the elementary particles. With a mass of 80.4 GeV/c2 and 91.2 GeV/c2, respectively, the W and Z particles are almost 100 times as massive as the proton—heavier than entire atoms of iron. The masses of these bosons are significant because they limit the range of the weak nuclear force. The electromagnetic force, by contrast, has an infinite range because its boson (the photon) is massless.
Both types have a spin of 1.
The emission of a W+ or W− boson can either raise or lower electric charge of the emitting particle by 1 unit, and alter the spin by 1 unit. At the same time a W boson can change the generation of the particle, for example changing a strange quark to an up quark. The Z boson cannot change either electric charge nor any other charges (like strangeness, charm, etc.), only spin and momentum, so it never changes the generation or flavor of the particle emitting it (see weak neutral current).e. Graviton
::Interact gravitational force, rest mass 0, charge 0 (no anti particle), lifetime - finifnte, stability - stable.f. Z Particle
::The Z boson (or Z) is electrically neutral and is its own antiparticle. Spin 1. Interact weak force.Reference
*Shresta, G.B. "Conceptual Physics"
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