Can Subatomic Particles be Configured Into Other Particles?

[GladScientist]

Not sure if this is the right section for this...

Does anyone think that it's possible for sub-atomic particles to be configured into any stable particles that aren't atoms? Or are the structures that particles form into naturally the only possible way that these things can be configured?

Tell me if I need to clarify, as this is an odd concept. I'm just curious if it's possible for things to be configured (probably artificially) into structures other than the standard ones that are provided by nature.

 

[askAphysicist]

Well, I'm not sure what you mean by stable here.

Both electrons and the nuclei of atoms can exist freely from each other so they would be in fact stable subatomic particles.

 

[Mattenerinfo]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. If you mean the quarks, they can be arranged in other particles, like an Omega particle, and plasma exists at high energy many places. Please clarify your question.

 

[GladScientist]

Well, I'm not sure what you mean by stable here.

Both electrons and the nuclei of atoms can exist freely from each other so they would be in fact stable subatomic particles.

I'm talking about really any given particle that is composed of other, smaller particles, but I'm asking about atoms in particular.

For example the standard build for an atom is to be composed of protons and neutrons being orbited by electrons, but would it be possible for a particle to exist that had these subatomic particles (or perhaps even things that are not the classic subatomic particles) in a different setup than this? Like, would it ever be conceivable at any point in the future to have things built on a scale that humans could recognize that would not be made of atoms, but something entirely different?

I guess plasma sort of counts. Can you go into detail about what an omega particle is, or give me a link to something that someone who's not an expert would be able to understand?

 

[Astronuc]

I'm talking about really any given particle that is composed of other, smaller particles, but I'm asking about atoms in particular.

For example the standard build for an atom is to be composed of protons and neutrons being orbited by electrons, but would it be possible for a particle to exist that had these subatomic particles (or perhaps even things that are not the classic subatomic particles) in a different setup than this? Like, would it ever be conceivable at any point in the future to have things built on a scale that humans could recognize that would not be made of atoms, but something entirely different?

I guess plasma sort of counts. Can you go into detail about what an omega particle is, or give me a link to something that someone who's not an expert would be able to understand?

In brief - no. At least not around earth. Atoms are what they are, and there are many stable isotopes, and many more unstable (radioactive) isotopes, or radionuclei, most of which do not exist naturally but are formed in fission reactions, neutron capture or nuclear collisions imposed by humans.

Plasmas are ionized gases or dissociated atoms - the electrons are knock of the atoms which form ions or free nuclei.

Stars are plasmas, but those conditions are well beyond normal terrestrial experience. Then there are neutron stars, and again the conditions are well beyond our meager experience on earth.

A free neutron will decay into a proton, electron and antineutrino, but a proton (and the electron) is considered fundamentally stable.

Other subatomic particles, leptons like the muon and tauon, mesons, and baryons heavier than neutrons are simply unstable, and do not exist long enough to produce stable atoms or molecules, or any other structure.

http://www.particleadventure.org/hadrons.html#
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/hadron.html