subatomicadj.

1874 Nature 26 Mar. 414/1 In the case of many of the metalloids we get, between these extremes, a channelled space spectrum. Let us term this the sub-atomic spectrum.

1903 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 385 Sub-atomic physics.

1920 Electr. World 3 Apr. 769/1 The conditions which determine the electrical and magnetic properties of the material are submolecular and perhaps subatomic.

1940 G. Gamow Birth & Death of Sun ii. 54 Bohr's theory of the atom made for tremendous progress in our understanding of subatomic phenomena.

1993 H. Gardner Creating Minds iv. 125 General relativity explained the large-scale working of gravity and cosmology, but it could not apply appropriately at the atomic and subatomic levels.

2006 K. R. Lang Sun, Earth, Sky (ed. 2) i. 10 When subatomic matter and anti-matter collide, they destroy each other, releasing pure radiative energy.

1904 Med. Communications Mass. Med. Soc. 19 647 In looking for that which all three [sc. Finsen light, Röentgen rays, and the radiation of radioactive substances] have in common we shall find it in their so-called ionizing effect—the breaking of molecules into subatomic particles.

1954 E. P. Abraham in H. W. Florey Lect. Gen. Pathol. xiii. 240 Radiation consists of electromagnetic waves, or of atomic nuclei or subatomic particles moving at a high velocity.

2002 Science 26 Apr. 633/1 Neutrinos come in three ‘flavors’, named after the subatomic particle that each is associated with: the electron neutrino, the muon neutrino, and the tau neutrino.