Physics › Section W · Particle physics and frontiers › Topic W.2
Accelerators and particle conservation laws
To find new particles, physicists speed known ones up and smash them together, turning kinetic energy into fresh matter. What comes out of the wreckage is never random: a short list of conservation laws decides which reactions can happen and which never do.
In this topic
- Making matter from energy
- Energy from an accelerating voltage
- Worked example: a proton linac
- The cyclotron
- Worked example: a small cyclotron
- Synchrotrons and colliders
- Matter, antimatter and particle families
- Conservation laws
- Worked example: allowed or forbidden?
- Strangeness and imperfect laws
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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