full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jonathan Butterworth: What's the smallest thing in the universe?


Unscramble the Blue Letters


These hvaey particles are only produced, for very brief moments, in high energy collisions, and are not seen in everyday life. This is because they decay very qiuklcy into the lhtegir particles.

Such decays ivlvnoe the exchange of force-carrying particles, called the W and Z, which – unlike the photon – have mass. They carry the weak force, the final force of the Standard Model. This same force allows protons and neutrons to transform into each other, a vaitl part of the fusion interactions that drive the Sun. To osrbeve the W and Z directly, we needed the high energy cioillnsos provided by particle accelerators.

Open Cloze


These _____ particles are only produced, for very brief moments, in high energy collisions, and are not seen in everyday life. This is because they decay very _______ into the _______ particles.

Such decays _______ the exchange of force-carrying particles, called the W and Z, which – unlike the photon – have mass. They carry the weak force, the final force of the Standard Model. This same force allows protons and neutrons to transform into each other, a _____ part of the fusion interactions that drive the Sun. To _______ the W and Z directly, we needed the high energy __________ provided by particle accelerators.

Solution


  1. involve
  2. quickly
  3. lighter
  4. vital
  5. collisions
  6. heavy
  7. observe

Original Text


These heavy particles are only produced, for very brief moments, in high energy collisions, and are not seen in everyday life. This is because they decay very quickly into the lighter particles.

Such decays involve the exchange of force-carrying particles, called the W and Z, which – unlike the photon – have mass. They carry the weak force, the final force of the Standard Model. This same force allows protons and neutrons to transform into each other, a vital part of the fusion interactions that drive the Sun. To observe the W and Z directly, we needed the high energy collisions provided by particle accelerators.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
standard model 11
smallest unit 3
high energy 3
indivisible building 2
building blocks 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
indivisible building blocks 2


Important Words


  1. accelerators
  2. called
  3. carry
  4. collisions
  5. decay
  6. decays
  7. drive
  8. energy
  9. everyday
  10. exchange
  11. final
  12. force
  13. fusion
  14. heavy
  15. high
  16. interactions
  17. involve
  18. life
  19. lighter
  20. mass
  21. model
  22. moments
  23. needed
  24. neutrons
  25. observe
  26. part
  27. particle
  28. particles
  29. photon
  30. produced
  31. protons
  32. quickly
  33. standard
  34. sun
  35. transform
  36. vital
  37. weak