Particle & Atom Lab for GCSE and A Level Physics

Reconstruct particle events or build atoms from protons, neutrons and electrons using evaluated isotope stability, half-life and decay data for AQA, OCR A, GCSE and A Level.

Learning guide and suggested activities

What this tool shows

  • How nuclide notation and nuclear equations balance proton and nucleon number
  • Why beta-minus decay requires an electron antineutrino at A Level
  • How particles and antiparticles annihilate or can be created as pairs
  • How up, down and strange quarks combine and change during particle events
  • How charge, baryon number, lepton-family numbers and strangeness test an AQA interaction
  • How the permitted particles, diagrams and conservation ledger change with the selected specification
  • How proton, neutron and electron counts set element identity, isotope and ion charge
  • How stable, radioactive and metastable nuclei differ across the full periodic table
  • How alpha, beta-minus, beta-plus and gamma decay create daughter nuclei with measured half-lives
  • How a free neutron beta-decays while conserving charge, baryon number and electron-lepton number

OCR A relevance

  • OCR A H556 sections 6.4.1–6.4.4: nuclear atom, fundamental particles, quarks and pair creation/annihilation
  • OCR A beta-minus and beta-plus quark transformations and charge balance
  • OCR Gateway J249 P6.1: isotopes, radioactive emissions and balanced nuclear equations

AQA relevance

  • AQA 7407/7408 sections 3.2.1.1–3.2.1.7: particles, interactions, quarks and conservation laws
  • AQA annihilation, pair production, exchange-particle diagrams, muon decay and strange particles
  • AQA GCSE 8463 section 4.4: atomic structure, isotopes and nuclear equations

Try these tasks

  • Start with beta-minus decay and use the ledger to distinguish a neutrino from an antineutrino.
  • Switch between AQA and OCR A Level and identify which model layers are intentionally removed.
  • Complete annihilation and pair production, then explain the two-photon and nuclear-recoil requirements.
  • Build protons and neutrons from fractional-charge quarks.
  • Use the AQA lens to compare strong strange-particle production with weak kaon decay.
  • Switch to GCSE and balance alpha, beta, gamma and OCR neutron-emission equations.
  • Drag particles into the Atom Builder, keep the nucleus stable or observe its accelerated random decay.
  • Add one free neutron, predict its beta-minus products and compare mean life with half-life.
  • Load carbon-14, fluorine-18, technetium-99m and uranium-238 to compare beta-minus, beta-plus, gamma and alpha decay.