Microsoft Word - TheModernView.doc - TheModernView.pdf
In the standard model, there are only 12 fundamental particles of matter,
together with another one called the Higgs boson.
The electron is perhaps the most famous of all 12 particles.
It has two heavier cousins, the muon and the tau.
Then, each one of these has a companion neutrino,
like Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
So an electron neutrino, a muon neutrino, and a tau neutrino,
making for a group of six particles called leptons--
from the Greek for light weight.
The other six particles are known as quarks.
Of the six quarks, the most important are
called the up and down quarks, which make up particles
like the proton and the neutron.
So, according to modern particle physics,
everything that exists in the universe--
every kind of matter or material--
is made of these 12 particles.
