Available online
Description
The programme looks at methods for examining the properties of hadrons. It introduces the concepts of charge, baryon number and strangeness and postulates fundamental particles, quarks, of which th...e various hadrons are composed.
The programme looks at methods for examining the properties of hadrons. It introduces the concepts of charge, baryon number and strangeness and postulates fundamental particles, quarks, of which th...e various hadrons are composed.
| Module code and title: | S101, Science: a foundation course |
|---|---|
| Item code: | S101; 31 |
| First transmission date: | 09-10-1979 |
| Published: | 1979 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | John Stratford |
| Contributors: | Graham Farmelo; Russell Stannard |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Bubble chambers; CERN laboratory; Charm |
| Subject terms: | Hadrons; Protons; Quarks |
| Footage description: | Shots of Russ Stannard breaking a china clock with a hammer. He introduces the programme by pointing out that this is an analogue for a particle physics experiment. Exterior and interior shots of CERN, Switzerland, showing the proton synchrotron and the super proton synchrotron. An animation illustrates how collisions of protons are monitored in the bubble chamber at CERN. Stannard examines a bubble chamber photo in detail. It shows the result of a collision between two protons. An animation of a clock being smashed with more clocks being created as a result is shown as an analogue for the proton smashing experiment. Graham Farmelo walks through a collection of coded discs representing the particles which have been created as a result of high energy proton/proton collisions. Farmelo goes on to explain that only some combinations of particles re possible during collisions. Farmelo goes on to list, briefly, three properties of hadrons - charge, baryon number and strangeness - which are associated with conservation laws. Russ Stannard then uses these properties to order the hadrons in a way similar to that of Mendelev when he constructed his periodic table. Stannard uses models and an animation to illustrate his points. With the aid of models, Graham Farmelo postulates an internal structure for hadrons made up of fundamental particles called quarks. He points out that quarks also have the properties of baryon number, charge and strangeness and shows how different combinations of three quarks can make up all the known hadrons. Stannard explains why, when there is not direct experimental evidence for the existence of quarks, physicists continue to use the quark model. Stannard goes on, with the aid of animated captions to postulate the existence of a fourth kind of quark which has the additional property of charm. Stannard incorporates the additional quark into his model of a hadron. Shots of the Stanford Linear Acceleration Laboratory in California. Graham Farmelo describes the experiment performed there which led to the discovery of the J Psi particle, a particle which had properties consistent with a four quark model of the hadron. Shots of the Nobel Prize ceremony at which the discoverers of the J Psi particle were honoured. Farmelo and Stannard sum up the programme. |
| Master spool number: | OU2854 |
| Production number: | FOUS031S |
| Videofinder number: | 1206 |
| Available to public: | no |
