Why 1/3 ?
in [Physics]
|
Prev: Wanted: A mathematical definition for consonant...
Next: All laws in science are based upon explanations of observations. All explanations are theoretical. Therefore laws are theories.
From: OG on 6 Jun 2010 09:48 Is there an inherent explanation within the standard model for the of the charge on quarks to be (plus/minus) 1/3 or 2/3 that of the charge on the lepton?
From: Igor on 6 Jun 2010 10:07 On Jun 6, 9:48 am, "OG" <o...(a)gwynnefamily.org.uk> wrote: > Is there an inherent explanation within the standard model for the of the > charge on quarks to be (plus/minus) 1/3 or 2/3 that of the charge on the > lepton? Because it takes three of them to make up a baryon, and baryons are defined as having integral charge. We could just have easily defined quark charge as being integral and then baryons would occur in multiples of three.
From: Sam Wormley on 6 Jun 2010 13:11 On 6/6/10 8:48 AM, OG wrote: > Is there an inherent explanation within the standard model for the of the > charge on quarks to be (plus/minus) 1/3 or 2/3 that of the charge on the > lepton? > > It's just a model--one of several that works.
From: OG on 6 Jun 2010 13:16 Igor wrote: > On Jun 6, 9:48 am, "OG" <o...(a)gwynnefamily.org.uk> wrote: >> Is there an inherent explanation within the standard model for the of the >> charge on quarks to be (plus/minus) 1/3 or 2/3 that of the charge on the >> lepton? > > Because it takes three of them to make up a baryon, and baryons are > defined as having integral charge. We could just have easily defined > quark charge as being integral and then baryons would occur in > multiples of three. > Well yes, hopefully everyone here knows that. Why three though? Is there anything inherent in the Standard Model that makes '3' the special number rather than 2, 4, 5 or 7 ?
From: OG on 6 Jun 2010 13:27
"Sam Wormley" <swormley1(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:Ss-dncQjtv81S5bRnZ2dnUVZ_g6dnZ2d(a)mchsi.com... > On 6/6/10 8:48 AM, OG wrote: >> Is there an inherent explanation within the standard model for the of the >> charge on quarks to be (plus/minus) 1/3 or 2/3 that of the charge on the >> lepton? >> >> > > It's just a model--one of several that works. So, no inherent reason. It does seem interesting that two inherently separate classes of particle (leptons and quarks) have different units of charge, but the units of charge are related by the 1/3 & 2/3 ratios. Why x/3 rather than any other number? |