Hi,
The 12 fundamental fermionic flavours are divided into three
generations of four particles each. Six of the particles are
quarks. The remaining six are
leptons, three of which are
neutrinos, and the remaining three of which have an electric charge of −1: the electron and its two cousins, the
muon and the
tau.
There are six types of quarks, known as
flavors:
up,
down,
charm,
strange,
top, and
bottom.
[4] Up and down quarks have the lowest
masses of all quarks. The heavier quarks rapidly change into up and down quarks through a process of
particle decay: the transformation from a higher mass state to a lower mass state. Because of this, up and down quarks are generally stable and the most common in the
universe, whereas charm, strange, top, and bottom quarks can only be produced in
high energy collisions (such as those involving
cosmic rays and in
particle accelerators).
A
lepton is an
elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of
matter.
[1] The best known of all leptons is the
electron which governs nearly all of
chemistry as it is found in
atoms and is directly tied to all
chemical properties. Two main classes of leptons exist:
charged leptons (also known as the
electron-like leptons), and neutral leptons (better known as
neutrinos). Charged leptons can combine with other particles to form various
composite particles such as
atoms and
positronium, while neutrinos rarely interact with anything, and are consequently rarely observed.
There are six types of leptons, known as
flavours, forming three
generations.
[2] The first generation is the
electronic leptons, comprising the
electrons (e
−
) and
electron neutrinos (ν
e); the second is the
muonic leptons, comprising
muons (μ
−
) and
muon neutrinos (ν
μ); and the third is the
tauonic leptons, comprising
taus (τ
−
) and
tau neutrinos (ν
τ). Electrons have the least mass of all the charged leptons. The heavier muons and taus will rapidly change into electrons through a process of
particle decay: the transformation from a higher mass state to a lower mass state. Thus electrons are stable and the most common charged lepton in the
universe, whereas muons and taus can only be produced in
high energy collisions (such as those involving
cosmic rays and those carried out in
particle accelerators).
Particle Generations
Leptons
First generation
Second generation
Third generation
Name
Symbol
Name
Symbol
Name
Symbol
electron
e
−
muon
μ
−
tau
τ
−
electron neutrino
ν
e
muon neutrino
ν
μ
tau neutrino
ν
τ
Quarks
First generation
Second generation
Third generation
up quark
u
charm quark
c
top quark
t
down quark
d
strange quark
s
bottom quark
b
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