LHC craft! Sub-atomic plushies by Particle Zoo

Exactly what the scientists at CERN will discover when they start whizzing and smashing particles together later this month remains a mystery, but at Particle Zoo you'll find a host of 'fluffy hadrons' without the need of a multi-billion dollar supercollider. They including the most elusive sub-atomic particle of all: the Higgs Boson, which is stuffed with gravel for 'maximum mass'! No wonder he looks so happy with all that attention on him.

Follow the jump to meet more of the particles!

Charm Quark

Heavier than a Strange Quark but not as heavy as a Bottom Quark, the Charm Quark was discovered in 1974. The 'charming' plushie particle is made from acrylic felt with a blend of poly beads and gravel for medium mass.

Dark Matter is the name given to material in the universe that does not relfect or create light, but is necessary to explain observed gravitational effects in galaxies and stars. Dark Matter, along with Dark Energy makes up 96% of the universe, yet it remains a mystery as to what exactly it is. The guys at particle zoo have had a damn good guess though, and come up with this lovely, um, blob.

Electron Neutrino

He may look like a Ninja Turtle to you, but the Electron Neutrino is actually wearing a bandit's mask because he likes to steal away energy, and is notoriously difficult to detect. Travelling close to the speed of light, he is the most pervasive form of matter in the universe. There are trillions of his kind passing through everything around us (including us) at every moment, and their mass is next to nothing. That's why he's been made from a super-light acrylic felt.

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