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How Atom Smashers Work

Future Directions in Particle Physics

Several questions still remain unresolved with respect to the standard model:

  • Why are there three pairs of quarks when it appears that only one pair is needed to make matter?
  • What gives particles (also atoms and matter) mass?
  • Why is the top quark (which is 35 times bigger than the bottom quark) so massive compared to the others?

These are but a few questions that are being pursued in the world of particle physics.

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For more information on particle accelerators and particle physics, check out the links below.

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General Information

Particle Physics Laboratories

Tutorials

Accelerators

Books
  • The Physical Sciences: An Integrated Approach, by Robert M. Hazen and James S. Trefil
  • Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos, by Isaac Asimov, D.F. Bach (Illustrator)
  • A Tour of the Subatomic Zoo: A Guide to Particle Physics, by Cindy Schwarz, Sheldon Glashow (Introduction)
  • Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher, by Richard Phillips Feynman, Paul Davies (Introduction), Robert B. Leighton (Editor)
  • A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking
  • The Search For Superstrings, Symmetry, and The Theory Of Everything, by John R. Gribbin
  • The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics, by Robert P. Crease, Charles C. Mann (Contributor), Timothy Ferris
  • The Quest for Unity: The Adventure of Physics, by Etienne Klein, Marc Lachieze-Rey, Axel Reisinger (Translator)