Teaching Elementary Particle Physics: Part I1

• Autores: Art Hobson
• Localización: The Physics Teacher, ISSN 0031-921X, Vol. 49, Nº. 1, 2011, págs. 12-15
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Ill outline suggestions for teaching elementary particle physics, often called high energy physics, in high school or introductory college courses for nonscientists or scientists. Some presentations of this topic simply list the various particles along with their properties, with little overarching structure. Such a laundry list approach is a great way to make a fascinating topic meaningless. Students need a conceptual framework from which to view the elementary particles. That conceptual framework is quantum field theory QFT. Teachers and students alike tend to quake at this topic, but bear with me. Were talking here about concepts, not technicalities. My approach will be conceptual and suitable for nonscientists and scientists; if mathematical details are added in courses for future scientists, they should be simple and sparse. Introductory students should not be expected to doQFT, but only to understand its concepts. Those concepts take some getting used to, but they are simple and can be understood by any literate person, be she plumber, attorney, musician, or physicist.