IB PHYSICS PARTICLE PRACTICE Name:

1. This question is about a proton.

The proton is made out of three quarks.

(a) Explain why the three quarks in the proton do not violate the Pauli exclusion
principle.
(2)

The two up quarks have opposite spin.

(b) Quarks have spin

1
2
. Explain how it is possible for the proton to also have

spin 2 .
1

(2)
(Total 4 marks)

Two will have spin of positive ½, while the other has a spin of ½.

2. This question is about fundamental interactions.

–
(a) The Feynman diagram below represents a  decay via the weak interaction
process.

The exchange particle in this weak interaction is a virtual particle.

(i) State what is meant by a virtual particle.

Virtual particles have a very short range.

(1)

(ii) Determine whether the virtual particle in the process represented by the
+ – 0
Feynman diagram is a W , a W or a Z boson.
(2)

W-, because the u quark gains charge of +1 and the electron has a charge of -1.
3. A meson called the pion was detected in cosmic ray reactions in 1947 by Powell and Occhialini. The
pion comes in three possible charge states.

The Feynman diagram below represents a possible reaction in which a pion participates.

State and explain whether the meson produced is positive, negative, or neutral.

Positive, the proton has lost charge and the proton has gained charge.

State the possible spin numbers of mesons and explain your answer.

Mesons have a spin of -1, 0, or +1. They are composed of two quarks.

4. This question is about electrons and the weak interaction.

(a) State (i) what is meant by an elementary particle. [1]

Elementary particles cannot be broken down.

(b) (ii) to which class of elementary particles the electron belongs. [1]

Leptons.

(c) An electron is one of the particles produced in the decay of a free neutron into a proton. An
exchange particle is also involved in the decay.

(i) State the name of the exchange particle. [1]

Negative Boson.