How am I going to remember all of the particles I need to know? (A-level Physics)

(This is accompanied with a whiteboard drawn diagram)."Well, the way I solved this problem when I was doing my A-levels was to make a spider diagram. For instance, the particle zoo (the name given to the extensive list of particles you are being told to remember), is split into two groups: the Hadrons (particles that are made up of quarks* and interact with the strong force**) and the Leptons (particles that are not made up of quarks (fundamental) and that do not interact via the strong force). So, we place these two names at the top of the page and then we branch down from the Hadrons with the Mesons (particles composed of a quark - anti-quark pair) and the Baryons (particles composed of three quarks), and from the Leptons we branch down to the Electron, the Muon and the Tau. From the Mesons and the Baryons we can then branch down into their respective particles. We now have a complete map of all the particles you need to remember and hopefully giving the particles context will help you remember them.Now have a look at the diagram for a minutes, and I'm going to see if you can recreate it ."(Following this, I would then proceed to ask them if they know how these particles decay, and if they don't I would repeat the same procedure with a flowchart of decays to accompany the spider diagram).*explain quarks if required**explain strong force if required(Consider reformatting wording if either strong force or quarks are not known as to avoid confusion. i.e. explain the strong force and quarks before moving onto the above explanation as to ensure comprehension of one concept at a time).

JP
Answered by Joe P. Physics tutor

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