elementary particles

1. The particles that make up the atom. The elementary particles include electrons and a large number of particles, including protons and neutrons, that exist inside the nucleus of atoms. Strictly speaking, the term elementary as applied to most of the particles in the nucleus is inaccurate, for scientists now believe that all the particles except electrons are made of still more elementary particles called quarks.

The study of elementary particles is one of the frontiers of modern physics and is associated with the building of particle accelerators.

Example Sentences

The Nobel committee praised "their penetrating investigation... which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles".

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Finally elementary particles are protons, electrons, neutrons and all other particles that are smaller than an atom.

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Quarks and gluons are the fundamental building blocks of protons and neutrons -- elementary particles that combined to forge the basic elements of the periodic table.

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Wigner realized that using principles derived from Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, he could describe all the possible elementary particles in the universe, even those that hadn't been discovered yet.

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One of the best known is radioactive decay: a process where due to quantum effects, elementary particles can escape the attractive force that ties them to atomic nuclei.

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