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A comment on A Russian scientist who was struck by a particle accelerator beam. Parent comment

Re:A Russian scientist who was struck by a particle accelera... by collyw on Monday July 28, 2014 @04:58AM (#8095770)
>It is not possible to split a proton into its constituent quarks because quarks can never exist on their own.

In the same way that the atom was not divisible 100 years ago?

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Re:A Russian scientist who was struck by a particle accelera... by saalweachter on Monday July 28, 2014 @10:44AM (#8096997)
The explanation I was given was that the binding energy of the quarks in a proton is greater than the energy it takes to create a new set of quarks. So before you can pump enough energy into a proton to split it, you've pumped enough energy in for new quarks to appear, and you end up with two particles but no naked quarks.
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Re:A Russian scientist who was struck by a particle accelera... by heinrich5991 on Monday July 28, 2014 @06:39AM (#8095990)
Back then scientists didn't have a model for what is inside an atom though, while we do have a model for what is inside a proton.
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Re:A Russian scientist who was struck by a particle accelera... by jnbiche on Monday July 28, 2014 @02:44PM (#8098596)
>Back then scientists didn't have a model for what is inside an atom though

Yes, they did:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr_model

From 1913.

Not a complete model, as we now know, but nonetheless, scientists did have a model of the atom 100 years ago.

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Re:A Russian scientist who was struck by a particle accelera... by justbaker on Monday July 28, 2014 @08:51AM (#8096381)
Gahh but that's not how quarks work. Paired up, always.
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