Matt N
TS Member
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- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
If I’m remembering correctly, it had something to do with dictating the charges of the sub-atomic particles (protons, neutrons, and electrons). I remember a neutron had an up-down-down quark composition, which gave it a neutral charge, whilst a proton had an up-up-down quark composition, which gave it a positive charge.
Beyond that, I don’t really remember an awful lot… I remember there being a lot of terminology, but I can’t really remember much of what it actually meant. Like I said, I mostly remember Particle Physics as a load of strange-sounding terminology that resulted in dumbfounded giggles from anyone I tried to explain it to…
In hindsight, it really is a wonder that I managed to get an A in Physics given how poorly I can recall aspects of the course only 2 years later…
Steering things mildly back on topic, I don’t think we actually did relativity as a unit of our A Level, come to think of it. We did a big module on space, where we studied a lot of Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams and stuff to do with the Big Bang and the lifecycle of stars and such, but I think relativity was just something that our teacher gave us a brief introduction to one lesson for fun rather than something we properly covered in our A Level.
I still think that on paper, time dilation sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi film, even though I know very well that relativity is a real scientific concept… I just find the whole thing quite confusing and hard to comprehend!
