Fermions

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Fermions 
By Lauren Kelley 

Atoms are not only made up by just protons, neutrons and electrons. Instead there are many parts to an atom, which is surprising due to its size. For my blog, I decided to focus on the smallest part of an atom; the fermion. A fermion is “a subatomic particle, such as a nucleon, which has half-integral spin and follows the statistical description given by Fermi and Dirac” according to Oxford Dictionaries. 
Fermions obey the Pauli exclusion principle which states that two or more identical fermions (particles with half-integer spin) cannot occupy the same quantum state within a quantum system simultaneously. A fermion can be a proton or an electron, and they differ from bosons (a particle that follows Bose–Einstein statistics) because they have a half-integer spin.  
Fermions were not invented by anyone. Instead, Enrico Fermi invented the Fermi-Dirac Statistics, which define what a fermion is. Although they seem confusing, they are quite simple. Electrons, protons and neutrons, something many people are familiar with, are all classified as fermions, as well as quarks and neutrinos which people may not know of.  Fermions are produced within the atom although only one can occupy that quantum state, due to the Pauli Exclusion principle.  
In the future, fermions should be further studied to reveal more about atoms and their structures. Many people are only familiar with parts of an atom like electrons, protons or neutrons, but it is important to be aware that there are many other things inside as well. Atoms are a complex topic, but once broken down, they can be quite interesting! 





Links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi  
https://web.pa.msu.edu/courses/1997spring/PHY232/lectures/atomic/bosons.html  
https://www.britannica.com/science/fermion 

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