What is a quark?

What is a quark?

• A. Quark
• B. Electron
• C. Neutron
• D. Photon

Answer: (A)

A quark is an elementary particle that serves as a fundamental building block of matter. Quarks combine in threes to form protons and neutrons, which are the components of atomic nuclei, through the strong interaction mediated by gluons. There are six flavors of quarks (up, down, charm, strange, top, bottom) and they carry fractional electric charges (±2/3 or ±1/3) with spin 1/2. Quarks are never found alone due to confinement in quantum chromodynamics; they are always bound inside composite particles. This distinguishes them from electrons (which are leptons), neutrons (a composite particle made of quarks), and photons (the force-carrying particles of light).

A quark is an elementary particle that serves as a fundamental building block of matter. Quarks combine in threes to form protons and neutrons, which are the components of atomic nuclei, through the strong interaction mediated by gluons. There are six flavors of quarks (up, down, charm, strange, top, bottom) and they carry fractional electric charges (±2/3 or ±1/3) with spin 1/2. Quarks are never found alone due to confinement in quantum chromodynamics; they are always bound inside composite particles. This distinguishes them from electrons (which are leptons), neutrons (a composite particle made of quarks), and photons (the force-carrying particles of light).