QUARKS

-It can be found in hadrons and is held together by a strong force (also known as colour force)
-The particle responsible for an electron to communicate with a neighbouring electron is called a
messenger particle
(Messenger particles may be represented by:
Photons in light and electromagnetic radiation
Gravitons in gravitational force
Z-particle, W
+
and W
-
in weak force.)
-The messenger particles that stick quarks together are called gluons
-quarks come in groups of three or two
*Quarks in groups of three = baryons
e.g. Protons, neutrons.
*Quarks in pairs (quark-antiquark combination) = mesons
e.g. Pions
Electric Charge (also known as flavors)
Electric Charge
-1/3 d (down) s (strange) b (bottom)
2/3 u (up) c (charm) t (top)

-Among the 6 flavors of quark, down and up quarks are the most stable since it has a lower mass than
the other 4.
-Following this, the proton is the most stable baryon since it has 2 up quarks and 1 down quark with a
resultant charge of 1.
-Quark combinations can easily be verified by looking at the charge of the resulting baryon.
e.g.
Proton = u u d
u = 2/3
d = -1/3
u + u + d = 2/3 + 2/3 -1/3
= 1 resultant charge


Quark Combinations
Quark Combination Particle Particle Symbol
u u d Proton p
u d d Neutron n
u d s Neutral sigma
0

d d s Negative sigma
-

u u s Positive sigma
+

u s s Neutral chi
0

d s s Negative chi
-

u d s Lambda
u Positive pion
d Negative pion
d Neutral kaon
0

U Positive kaon
+

s Negative kaon
-

s Neutral antikaon
0