elementary particles

Cultural  

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.

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

Example Sentences

These particles, called ultralight bosons, are predicted by some theories that go beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, which describes and classifies all known elementary particles.

From Science Daily • Oct. 30, 2025

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

From BBC • Oct. 18, 2025

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

From Salon • Nov. 13, 2024

The knockout blow for muon colliders was, ironically, the discovery of the Higgs boson, the particle responsible for giving other elementary particles mass.

From Scientific American • Aug. 28, 2023

“They know all about elementary particles and fundamental forces,” she explained.

From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman