The whole world around, starting from the very depths of the earth to outer space, consists of countless objects, each of which is material. Scientists believe that matter cannot be destroyed or created, it is infinite and eternal. Movement is one of the qualities inherently associated with matter. This is not only the spatial movement of the bodies themselves, but also a change in their states, properties and so on.
Matter and its systems
Space and time are considered a form of being for matter. One of its primary properties is the ability to be reflected in the minds of people.
In science today, the following levels of matter and its system are distinguished:
- elementary particles;
- atoms
- molecules;
- Fields
- macroscopic bodies;
- geological systems;
- planets;
- stars;
- galaxies;
- galaxy systems;
- universes;
- systems of universes.
All material systems are composed of living substances, that is, various organisms that, unlike others, are able to multiply. A kind of building block for matter is elementary particles. It can be the smallest electrically neutral particle of a chemical element that has one charge or another.
Elementary particles
Total elementary particles, which are currently open, there are up to three hundred. If a particle has a charge, then an antiparticle must also exist. An exception is the smallest electrically neutral particle of a chemical element.
All of them are divided into:
- hadrons, which participate in all interactions, they are divided into baryons (hyperons and nucleons) and mesons;
- leptons participate in all interactions, except for the strong one (among which there are electrons, muons and neutrinos).
And only photons do not belong to any of these groups.
The division is based on fundamental interactions that are strong or weak, electromagnetic, gravitational. Strong interaction is much more electromagnetic (a hundred times). The effect is at a very small distance - 10ˉ¹⁵ meters. Of course, the weak is much smaller than the electromagnetic, but it exceeds the gravitational one by many times.
Structure and stability of properties
There are no clear distinctions which the smallest electrically neutral particle of a chemical element and other elementary particles have. For example, it is known that they have a complex structure, which includes the so-called quarks.
If we consider the properties over time, then the particles exhibit them stably or unstably. Among the first are photons, muon and electron neutrinos, protons with electrons and their antiparticles. Other elementary particles can decay in the period from 10³ for neutrons in a free state, up to 10ˉ²²-10ˉ²⁴ for those particles called resonances.
Electrons, Protons and Neutrons
The elementary particles that make up physical objects are called electrons, protons and neutrons.
The former have a stable negative charge and a mass of 9 * 10ˉ³¹ kilograms. They are leptons, since they participate in all interactions, except for strong ones. Protons also have stable properties, but their mass exceeds 1836 times the electron mass. This is a baryon from the nucleus of a light isotope of a hydrogen atom. Neutrons, as the name implies, are neutral particles with a mass above the proton. These are also baryons. They are unstable and have a lifespan of up to sixteen minutes. Protons and neutrons form the nuclei of atoms.
Atom composition
The smallest electrically neutral particle of a chemical element is called an atom. At its center is the core, which has almost the entire mass. The nucleus is positively charged, since it contains only protons and neutrons. The number of protons can be determined by the number of the element and the periodic table: their number coincides with the serial number.
Electrons move around the nucleus , the number of which is the same as that of protons. The smallest electrically neutral particle is capable of donating electrons or, conversely, attaching them. Depending on this, the atom acquires a negative or positive charge. Chemical properties are manifested depending on the number of electrons that can be located at different distances from the nucleus and move in different orbits, with different speeds, energies.
An electric neutral elementary particle cannot be expressed graphically. Physicists today imagine an atom in the form of a heavy nucleus with an electron continuous cloud around. It is impossible to determine the location of the electrons, since there is no corresponding equipment, and also because they exhibit simultaneously wave properties.
Thanks to quantum mechanics , it was proved that each electric neutral elementary particle can have up to several groups of electrons that create electron spherical shells, the maximum number of which is seven.
Moving to a deeper level, the electron emits a quantum - a photon. Each electron, among other things, rotates on its axis. The property is called "spin". It is believed that this speed is constant, it cannot be changed in any way.
Collection of atoms
How an electrically neutral particle is built is studied using the spectrum. An atom emits or absorbs light lines. This becomes possible due to energy, which takes discrete values corresponding to atomic states and changes at quantum transitions.
Many atoms having one charge become a chemical element. Today, there are 107 of them, and 19 were originally obtained by artificial means and only then discovered in nature.
Nuclei having a heavy mass are unstable, therefore, americium and the following chemical elements are obtained only in nuclear reactions.
When one electrically neutral particle of a chemical element combines with another (the number of atoms can be up to two thousand), a molecule forms, which is the smallest particle of a substance with all its chemical properties. But this is the topic of another article.