Elementary Particles Take on Pedestrian Safety

We are thrilled to launch our first line of licensed pedestrian safety reflectors – designs from The Particle Zoo! The personalities reflected in the charming plushies teach us so much about the elementary particles. Now you can get the proton and the photon as  safety reflectors to hang on your jackets and backpacks!

Particle Zoo elementary particle plushies
Some of our favorite particles – neutrino, gluon, quarks, the Higgs, nucleons, electron and dark matter – from The Particle Zoo
Elementary particle pedestrian reflector - perfect gift for physicists and scientists
Elementary particle safety reflectors – perfect gifts for physicists and scientists


In my family, the “Universe-in-a-Box” mini particles Christmas gift was a big hit. We get it out to explain how the positive proton (red) and the neutral neutron (blue) form an atomic nucleus and the light electron (gray) spins around it or when the kids have questions about the universe and big bang. When you hold the plushies in your hand, you quickly realize which particles are heavy (filled with gravel) and which are light (filled with batting).
Obviously, all six quarks are in the universe box. The strange and the charm quarks are easy to recognize.
Neutrinos are hard to detect, they can easily go through the entire planet Earth without making themselves noticed. So, of course that’s the one with a mask!
The long-sought-after Higgs particle was first detected in July 2012 and confirmed to actually be the Higgs as recent as March 2013.
The photon is the particle that we know as light, so of  course that has to be our favorite. Without it, there would be no light to bounce back from our reflectors! There would be no sunlight, nor blinking LED’s, iPad screens or life-saving X-rays!
Yesterday, we officially launched the proton and the photon safety reflectors! They are available in our webshop and fills the void when searching for small and fun gifts for physicists, radiologists and cosmologists to name a few.
The Particle Zoo reflectors are packaged in individual bags, with fun-facts about the particle and information on how to use them. They are also available for wholesale – perfect for gift shops at science museums, science labs and hospitals.
Elisabeth
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