Is there a word for all the particles in an atom?

Question

That is to say, is there a word that picks out protons, neutrons, AND electrons, rather than just saying "nucleons plus electrons"?

Maybe it would help to give us a context. Usually, people talking about electron physics don't worry much about the nuclei, and people worrying about nuclear physics don't worry much about electrons--the energy scales are pretty different. — zeldredge, May 28 '15 at 13:55
http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/179349/since-nucleons-are-not-elementary-particles-more-how-we-call-nucleons-and-elect — HolgerFiedler, May 28 '15 at 18:44

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered May 28 '15 at 13:14

2

You may address all of them as Sub-atomic Particles

answered May 28 '15 at 13:14

nitish-d

Thanks, but I'm also wondering if there is a word that excludes everything smaller, like quarks, so it would unambiguously refer only to the two common baryons plus the good old everyday lepton. I feel like we could all save time if it existed! This is a fairly unimportant question, I fear... – Metalisgreat May 28 '15 at 13:21
Maybe the term sub-atomic particles is not used by working physicists to refer to quarks, though strictly they are sub-atomic…? – Metalisgreat May 28 '15 at 13:25
They usually mean the particles in the table of the standard model, quarks gluons etc by sub atomic.not protons and neutrons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subatomic_particle – anna v May 29 '15 at 05:48
Yes, that was my feeling... – Metalisgreat May 29 '15 at 10:19

score -1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 29 '15 at 05:31

-1

You may be able to call them elemental particles. If you're looking for a single word, maybe even elementals.

answered May 29 '15 at 05:31

Bionic Person

Nice, thank you! – Metalisgreat May 29 '15 at 10:19
I just made this up, though, Metalisgreat. It's not proper terminology, but it sounds alright. Who knows. Maybe, if you and I use it enough, it will catch on. – Bionic Person May 29 '15 at 11:02

2 Answers2