Lesson: Charged Leptons Physics

Students will be able to

• recall that there are two cousins of the electron, the muon and the tauon, which have all of the same properties as the electron except that they have greater masses,
• recall the approximate masses of the electron, muon, and tauon,
• recall that the antiparticles of the electron, muon, and tauon are the positron, the antimuon, and the antitauon,
• recall that the electron, the muon, the tauon, and their antiparticles are part of a group of particles known as leptons, specifically charged leptons,
• recall that the three charged leptons all have a relative charge of ,
• recall that the three charged antileptons all have a relative charge of ,
• recall that the muon and tauon, and their antiparticles, are unstable and decay to lighter particles,
• recall what the correct symbols for the muon, tauon, positron, antimuon, and antitauon are,
• recall that a particle and its antiparticle can annihilate each other, producing a photon,
• recall that a photon can pair produce a particle–antiparticle pair,
• recall that the charged leptons interact via the electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force, and gravity.