Physics Question #1493
David, a 26 year old male from Montreal asks on July 10, 2003,
Is my counting right?: There are 76 elementary particles in the standard model:
6 leptons + 6 anti-leptons,
6 quarks + 6 anti-quarks,
8 gluons which are their own antiparticles,
3 weak bosons (W+, W-, Z),
1 photon + 1 graviton + 1 Higgs boson (which are their own antiparticles?),
All doubled to account for their supersymetric counterparts.
Did I forget anything?
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The answer
In short, the Standard Model describes the world in terms of 6 quarks, 6 leptons, their respective anti-matter particles, and the force carriers that hold everything together -- as wonderfully explained in the excellent Particle Adventure website (from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)
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