Question: how do see what particles are produced and how do you test what they are?

Sam Henry answered on 7 Jan 2020:

We have particle detectors that work in a similar way to the camera on a phone. When a particle hits a silicon chip, we can see the pixels that are hit. Different particles leave different tracks. For example muons leave a straight line, but alpha particle leave a big splodge. This way we can test what they are, but sometimes it is not entirely clear what type of particle it is.