Units

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In the Particle Adventure, we often use units without formally explaining what they mean. Here's a brief synopsis of the more common units in particle physics:

Energy: in electron volts (eV). The energy gained by an electron crossing a potential of one volt. 1 eV = 1.6 x 10^(-19) joules. A MeV is a million electron volts, and a GeV is a billion electron volts.

One GeV is about 1/1000 the kinetic energy of a mosquito!

Mass: in GeV/c2 (a billion electron volts divided by the speed of light squared. Mass is measured in terms of energy because mass IS just a form of energy -- remember .) 1 GeV is about the amount of energy needed to create a proton (the mass of a proton is 0.938 GeV/c2 = 1.67 x 10 ^ (-27) kg.)

Spin: the internal angular momentum of a particle, in units of . = h / (2) = 6.58 x 10^(-25) GeV s = 1.05 x 10^(-34) J s.

Electric Charge: in terms of the proton's charge (+1), or in SI units, 1.60 x 10^(-19) coulombs.


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