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Asked by katherinehall to Alan, Caspar, Diana, Murray, Sarah on 23 Mar 2011 in Categories: Your Research.
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Caspar Addyman answered on 22 Mar 2011:
Atoms contain protons, neutrons and electrons. The electrons are much smaller and lighter than the other particles.
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Murray Collins answered on 22 Mar 2011:
Well but we had a discussion here http://ias.im/35.444
which ended with Sarah pointing out that the electron had apparently been split into component parts (charge and spin) by scientists in 2009. The component parts are called spinons and holons.
I’m not a physicist so am going to fudge this question and suggest you ask someone in the space zone! -
Alan Winfield answered on 23 Mar 2011:
Good question. I really don’t know enough about particle physics to say for sure, but I think that of the basic sub-atomic particles: electrons, neutrons and protons, two of them neutrons and protons are made of even smaller particles called quarks.
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Sarah Thomas answered on 23 Mar 2011:
Well physicists from the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham have shown that electrons, which can’t normally be split, can divide into two new particles called spinons and a holons when crowded into in a narrow wire. So I think these are the smallest particles in an atom.
The researchers explained that while single electrons seem to be impossible to break apart, this does not seem to be the case when electrons are brought together. Instead, the like-charged electrons repel each other and need to modify the way they move to avoid getting too close to each other. if the electrons are put in a very narrow wire the effects are exacerbated as the electrons find it much harder to move past each other and finally they fall apart into spinons and halons.
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