protons
The Second Most Energetic Cosmic Ray Ever Found
"Oh My God," someone must have said in 1991 when researchers detected the most energetic cosmic ray ever to strike…
What is the Higgs Boson?
What is this thing we keep hearing about - the Higgs Boson, and why is it important? (more…)
Astronomy Cast Ep. 395: The Standard Model – Baryons and Beyond
In the last few episodes, we’ve been talking about the standard model of physics, explaining what everything is made up…
Astronomy Cast Ep. 393: The Standard Model – Leptons & Quarks
Physicists are getting a handle on the structure of the Universe, how everything is made of something else. Molecules are…
Astronomy Cast Ep. 392: The Standard Model – Intro
Humans, cars and planets are made of molecules. And molecules are made of atoms. Atoms are made of protons, neutrons…
Astronomy Cast Ep. 378: Rutherford and Atoms
Physicists knew the interior of the atom contained protons, neutrons and electrons, but they didn't understand exactly how they were…
Will the Universe Run Out Of Energy?
It seems like the good times will go on forever, so feel free to keep on wasting energy. But entropy…
Astronomy Cast 323: Isotopes
The number of protons defines an element, but the number of neutrons can vary. We call these different flavors of…
Can Solar Flares Hurt Astronauts?
[/caption] Solar flares, coronal mass ejections, high-energy photons, cosmic rays... space is full of various forms of radiation that a…
Large Hadron Collider Finishes 2011 Proton Run
[/caption] The world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator has been busy. At 5:15 p.m. on October 30, 2011, the Large…