Quarks Determine Proton and Neutron Composition, Not Electrons

Quarks and gluons are the building blocks of protons and neutrons, which in turn are the building blocks of atomic nuclei. Scientists’ current understanding is that quarks and gluons are indivisible—they cannot be broken down into smaller ...

Image courtesy of Christopher Cocuzza, Temple University · The building blocks of protons and neutrons—quarks—are distributed differently in free protons and neutrons versus inside nuclei.

Protons contain two up quarks and one down quark, while neutrons contain one up quark and two down quarks.

Since three spin quarks can combine to produce a particle with spin of either 1/2 or 3/2, the quark composition is consistent with the known spin () of . Finally, the net strangeness of the (s u s) combination is which also agrees with experiment. Significance The charge, spin, and strangeness of the particle can be determined from the properties of its constituent quarks.

The six quarks are organised into two groups: the u, c and t quarks have electric charge +2/3, while the d, s and b quarks have charge -1/3. In addition, they all have their own antiquarks, so there are already 12 fundamental constituents here.

Using equation (5) and the values of the electron spin and magnetic moment known from multiple experiments, the · mass of the elementary e/3 basic charge was determined as m = 1.52·10-31 kg, or me/6. ... We suggested that the first-generation quarks are not elementary particles but are the ...

The Atom Builder Guide to Elementary Particles · Electrons occupy a space that surrounds an atom's nucleus. Each electron has an electrical charge of -1

A quark (/ˈkwɔːrk, ˈkwɑːrk/ ⓘ) is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly observable matter is composed of up quarks, down quarks and electrons.

Researchers have published intriguing new observations for how the different kinds of quarks behave inside protons and neutrons. In the proton, the down quark contributes surprisingly little to electron-proton interaction. Also, the up quark contributes much less to electron-neutron interaction ...