axion (from Sue’s list of interesting science babblets)
why
says the scientist
is it this
and not that
could be something
missing
call it
hypothetical
for now
and we’ll sort it out later
sitting in silence
motionless
waiting for discovery
I love getting words from scientists! I decided to not explore the “workings” of the particle, on the assumption that my understanding of the math wouldn’t be good enough. I love, however, the illustration of how a hypothesis works: an idea that can be tested, maybe not with current technology, but at some point. Axion is a fun concept. If I remember my high school physics correctly, quarks and neutrinos were once purely hypothetical, and yet we have since captured their tracks on film. It’s pretty cool!
Sue’s definition:
axion – a hypothetical particle with very small mass and zero spin (so not a neutrino, which has spin 1/2 and is a fermion; the axion would be a boson). Has not been observed; could contribute to dark matter if it exists.