The following questions are addressed in this chapter. They are better discussed in a group to allow a variety of opinions to emerge. The relevant section link is given after each question:
1. Do electrons orbit the atomic nucleus as planets orbit the sun? Give reasons. (QR4.1)
2. The standard model divides its particles into two types, what are they? (QR4.2)
3. If an electron is extreme light repeatedly colliding on one axis, why is it stable? (QR4.3.1)
4. Are mass and charge related or just independent properties? (QR4.3.2)
5. Why are electrons and neutrinos both leptons? (QR4.3.3)
6. Why does every real particle of the standard model have an anti-matter inverse? (QR4.3.4)
7. Why doesn’t our universe have equal amounts of matter and anti-matter? (QR4.3.5)
8. Anti-particles run our time in reverse, so can they go backwards in time? (QR4.3.6)
9. Why do quarks have strange one-third charges? (QR4.4.3)
10. What binds quarks together the nucleus of an atom? (QR4.4.4)
11. Why are three quarks needed to form a proton or neutron? (QR4.4.5)
12. What makes neutrons in space decay into protons? Why don’t protons decay? (QR4.4.6)
13. The Higgs doesn’t explain ordinary mass, so what does it explain? (QR4.4.7)
14. E = mc2, but why does the energy of matter depend on the speed of light? (QR4.4.8)
15. Why does string theory need eleven dimensions to work? (QR4.5.1)
16. Why does using virtual particles to explain new forces weaken science? (QR4.5.2)
17. Why can’t the standard model predict how its virtual particles will interact? (QR4.5.3)
18. How does the standard model accommodate new or unexpected findings? (QR4.5.4)
19. What is the difference between an equation and a theory? (QR4.5.5)
20. How is the standard model like the standard model of medieval astronomy? (QR4.5.6)
21. Why aren’t the fundamental particles of the standard model fundamental or particles? (QR4.5.7)
22. How can one photon process cause all the real particles of physics? (QR4.5.8),(QR4.4.9)
23. How can physics test the processing model prediction that matter came from extreme light? (QR4.5.9)
24. Why do all higher atomic nuclei need neutrons? (QR4.6.1)
25. An atom of lead has 82 electrons in a tiny space, so why do they never collide with each other? (QR4.6.2)
26. What is an electron sub-shell in wave terms? (QR4.6.3)
27. If an electron is a point-particle, how can it spin? (QR4.7.1)
28. Why do neutrinos always spin left-handed, contradicting the spatial symmetry of the universe? (QR4.7.2)
29. Why are protons much heavier than the quarks from which they are made? (QR4.7.3)
30. Why is the universe in general charge neutral? (QR4.7.4)
31. Why do leptons and quarks have three family generations, but then no more? (QR4.7.5)
32. What is dark matter and why can’t we see it? (QR4.7.6)
33. What is dark energy and why can’t a particle model explain it? (QR4.7.7)
34. How can a universe be built from particles that move themselves and don’t go where they are put? (QR4.8.1)
35. Why is our universe finely tuned to let life and us exist? (QR4.8.2)
36. Why is the randomness that quantum theory describes necessary for life to exist? (QR4.8.3)
39. We manufacture new things but evolution lets them emerge. What is the difference? (QR4.8.4)