In yet another step towards discovering the smallest possible particles that make up our universe, CERN have confirmed the existence of the pentaquark. This little beauty was actually predicted as far back as 1964 by American physicist, Murray Gell-Mann, who went on to win the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work.
Gell-Mann theorised that particles known as baryons, which included protons and neutrons, were composed of three charged objects called quarks and that mesons were formed of quark – antiquark pairs. In theory, particles could go larger than these two and three quarks – tetraquarks would be comprised of four quarks and and five quarks would be pentaquarks.
Up until now, there was no proof of pentaquarks but CERN scientists working on the Large Hadron Collider’s LHCb experiment believe their results will stand up to peer scrutiny.
Which is great, but what does it mean on a everyday level?
Understanding how quarks form into particles could help us understand how matter acts. Plus, the smaller size of particle we discover, we are getting closer (in theory) to ground zero – that mythical web of aether that supports universal life and is the smallest building block of creation.
“The pentaquark is not just any new particle,” said LHCb spokesperson, Guy Wilkinson. “It represents a way to aggregate quarks, namely the fundamental constituents of ordinary protons and neutrons, in a pattern that has never been observed before in over fifty years of experimental searches. Studying its properties may allow us to understand better how ordinary matter, the protons and neutrons from which we’re all made, is constituted.”
Is it beyond the realms of possibility that our minds would be able to affect the smallest possible particle of matter? Were it so, it would be a jaw breaking discovery – that man could manipulate energy and his surroundings merely by thinking of it. Which would put scientists thousands of years behind witches, shamans and druids in terms of catching up to what is already known by many.
