Quarks make up all matter, but have never been seen by themselves. And they have “flavors” and “colors” — though neither term has any relevance to what they actually do.

Deep within the atoms that make up our bodies and even within the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei, are tiny particles called quarks. When you purchase through links on our site, we ...

The combination of these factors leads to the proton’s size (about ~0.84 femtometers) and mass (938 MeV/c 2), where only about 1-to-2% of its mass comes from the three up-and-down quarks that ...

Except, that shouldn't make any sense. The two up quarks have the exact same electric charge (because they're the exact same kind of particle), so they should absolutely hate each other.

Instead of a marble, it seems, a proton is a kind of “stew”: the up and down valence quarks are like the biggest chunks, but other ingredients combine to produce the total flavor.

Like I said, a proton is a triplet of quarks: two up quarks and one down quark. These quarks bind together as a team, and that bound team is what we call a proton. Except, that shouldn't make any ...

When they make up a nucleon – a proton or a neutron – they come in threes, held together by gluons. The quarks, combined, have one percent of the mass of the nucleon, and the gluons have no ...

Those smaller particles that make up the protons and neutrons are called quarks, and they’re weird. In total there are six kinds of quarks, and they’re each given delightfully quirky names: up ...

Ever wondered what makes up the universe? Explore the fascinating world of fundamental particles, from the tiniest quarks to ...