mesotron

9.9

An old name for a tiny particle that helps hold the center of an atom together

noun
/ˈmɛzəˌtrɒn/

Archaic

: mesotrón

He single-handedly built more than 60 Geiger-Müller counters and the electronic circuits by which he was the first to roughly measure the lifetime of the muon—what was then called the mesotron.

Examples

During the lecture, the professor described how the mesotron is responsible for binding protons and neutrons together in the nucleus.
In her research, she focused on the properties of the mesotron to better understand particle interactions.
The scientist explained that the mesotron plays a crucial role in mediating the strong force within atomic nuclei.

Synonyms

meson

vsmesotron

Specialized

5 9.9

A small particle in the nucleus that helps hold it together

is an older name once used for the same particle

Surface Forms

mesotron singular

mesotrons plural

Morphology

mesotron = meso + tron

Formed from classical combining elements ('meso-' and '-tron') that are not productive standalone English words, so an average learner cannot infer the meaning from the parts.

Etymology

Mesotron starts with meso- meaning 'middle' and has the ending -tron, a name ending used for small particles. It was named because its mass is between an electron and a proton, so today we call the particle a meson, and mesotron refers to that middle-sized particle that helps hold the atomic nucleus together.