BRAINCAKENeutrinos
A neutrino is a lepton with no charge and a very tiny rest mass. It travels at almost the speed of light and interacts only through the weak interaction and gravity.
Neutrinos were first proposed to explain beta decay. The beta particles emitted by a given nuclide have a range of kinetic energies up to a maximum, so some energy seemed to be missing. A third, neutral particle carrying away the rest of the energy and momentum saved the conservation of energy.
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Key terms in this lesson
- Muon
- A negatively charged lepton, similar to but much heavier than the electron, produced for example by cosmic rays in the atmosphere.
More in Quarks and Leptons
- Particle Colliders and Energy
- Baryons and Mesons
- Lepton Collisions
- Lepton Rules
- Strangeness
- The Quark Model
- Quarks and Beta Decay
- Conservation Rules
All 17 lessons in Quarks and Leptons · All AQA AS-level Physics topics