Atom H-2 Diagram: Label Quarks & Leptons

[rojasharma]

Sketch a diagram of the atom H-2, using the appropriate quarks and leptons. Label the particles in your diagram. I don;t knoq how to do this because my book does not have any example of this...:(

 

[lavalamp]

OK, protons and neutrons have three quarks each, up, up, down for the proton and down, down, up for the neutron. Up quarks have charge +2/3 and down quarks have charge -1/3.

H-2 has a proton and a neutron in the nucleus, and one electron in it's first shell, so you just need to represent the six quarks in the nucleus and the one electron in orbit.

 

[rojasharma]

sorry its He-2...even though i don;t have any idea how to do this...i am guessing...u and d are the quarks...(3 on top and 2 on the bottom of He). so there are 2 protons and 1 neutron...each proton will have 2 u and 1 d , neutron will have 1 u and 2 d. and lepton is electron which is 2 ...

 

[lavalamp]

Helium-2 will have two protons and no neutrons then, and as I said, a proton has two up quarks and 1 down quark, also referred to as u and d yes.

The electron is a lepton yes, but does ont consist of any quarks, it is an elementary particle.

Edit: are you sure the question asks for Helium-2 though? He-2 has a very very short half life, only 3*10^-27 seconds.

 

[rojasharma]

yes its written as 3 on top and 2 at the bottom of He...so this makes it He-2 right?

 

[lavalamp]

No, that makes it He-3. The number of nucleons is 3, the atomic number is 2 (which is true for all isotopes of Helium). Helium-3 consists of two protons and one neutron, plus two electrons in orbit since it is an electrically neutral atom (as opposed to an ion).

 

[rojasharma]

:)thanks

 

[lavalamp]

Happy to help.