Quarks are fundamental to making protons and neutrons
Quarks are fundamental particles which exist in several forms see quarks and leptons. Only up and down quarks are stable and they are key building blocks of all hadrons of which protons and neutrons are most important to us. These are in turn part of the family of fermions which are sometimes called the building blocks of the universe
The proton
is made from two up quarks, charge +2/3 and one down quark, charge -1/3. The total charge is therefore 2/3 + 2/3 -1/3 = +1
The neutron
consists of two down and one up quark, the charges cancelling to a total of zero.
The quarks themselves have a relatively small mass.
The repulsion of the like charges of the quarks is overcome by particles called gluons. These glue the quarks together with the “strong force” which overcomes the electromagnet force of repulsion between like charges.
Related pages on atomic structure
- Protons, neutrons, electrons and isotopes notes and video
- Quarks and leptons notes and video
- Fermions - the building blocks of the universe Notes and video
- Neutrons, stability and decay - notes and video
- Binding energy and stability
- Nuclear density explained and calculated, notes and video
- Feynman diagrams notes and video
- Gauge bosons - the glue that holds everything together
- Pair production and annihilation notes and video
- Muon Decay and Relativity
- Baryon number and conservation The video with supporting notes