Subatomic physics is not a curiosity — it is the foundation layer of biology. Electron orbitals determine the geometry of covalent bonds and therefore the shape of every enzyme, receptor, and nucleic acid. The proton's charge is what makes ATP synthesis possible: chemiosmotic gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane drives protons through F&sub0;F&sub1;-ATPase, rotating the c-ring to phosphorylate ADP. The photon is what links the sun to life: absorbed by retinal in the eye, by 7-dehydrocholesterol in skin for Vitamin D synthesis, and by DNA when high-energy UV photons break pyrimidine dimers and drive mutagenesis. Quantum mechanics underpins chemistry; chemistry underpins biology.
Three particles. All of chemistry follows.
Each entry is modeled at the same depth: what it is, what it does in the human body, where it appears in disease, and how it connects to higher scales.
Help expand the Subatomic Atlas
Missing entries could include neutron decay (radioactive isotopes in medicine), muon interactions with biological tissue, or neutrino physics at the edge of detection. Each entry follows the same open schema.