more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 21185

[filed under theme 27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 3. Chromodynamics / a. Chromodynamics ]

Full Idea

Colour charge is 'three-dimensional'. As well as the charge having a positive or negative sign, it can also have a direction, and for convenience these three different directions (pointing like a weather vane) are labelled 'red', 'green' and 'blue'.

Gist of Idea

Colour charge is positive or negative, and also has red, green or blue direction

Source

Gavin Hesketh (The Particle Zoo [2016], 04)

Book Ref

Hesketh,Gavin: 'The Particle Zoo' [Quercus 2016], p.81

Related Idea

Idea 21197 Standard Model forces are one- two- and three-dimensional [Hesketh]


The 20 ideas from 'The Particle Zoo'

Electrons are fundamental and are not made of anything; they are properties without size [Hesketh]
Relativity and Quantum theory give very different accounts of forces [Hesketh]
Quantum mechanics is our only theory, and is very precise, and repeatedly confirmed [Hesketh]
Physics was rewritten to explain stable electron orbits [Hesketh]
Thermodynamics introduced work and entropy, to understand steam engine efficiency [Hesketh]
Colour charge is positive or negative, and also has red, green or blue direction [Hesketh]
Quarks rush wildly around in protons, restrained by the gluons [Hesketh]
Electrons may have smaller components, bound by a new force [Hesketh]
Virtual particles can't be measured, and can ignore the laws of physics [Hesketh]
Quarks and leptons have a weak charge, for the weak force [Hesketh]
Photons are B and W° bosons, linked by the Higgs mechanism [Hesketh]
'Space' in physics just means location [Hesketh]
Neutrinos only interact with the weak force, but decays produce them in huge numbers [Hesketh]
The universe is 68% dark energy, 27% dark matter, 5% regular matter [Hesketh]
The Standard Model omits gravity, because there are no particles involved [Hesketh]
In Supersymmetry the Standard Model simplifies at high energies [Hesketh]
Standard Model forces are one- two- and three-dimensional [Hesketh]
To combine the forces, they must all be the same strength at some point [Hesketh]
If a cosmic theory relies a great deal on fine-tuning basic values, it is probably wrong [Hesketh]
Spinning electric charge produces magnetism, so all fermions are magnets [Hesketh]