quarks

Cultural  

1. In physics, the elementary particles that make up the protons and neutrons that in turn make up the atomic nucleus. Quarks are the most basic known constituent of matter. (See antimatter.)

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No quarks have been seen in the laboratory because, according to current theory, they cannot exist as free particles.

Example Sentences

The quark-gluon plasma is a unique state of matter where the basic building blocks of protons and neutrons, quarks and gluons, exist freely rather than being confined inside particles.

From Science Daily

The results reveal that quarks and gluons, the fundamental building blocks that make up a proton's structure, are subject to so-called quantum entanglement.

From Science Daily

Their approach attempts to illuminate a cosmological constant as well as the properties of leptons and quarks.

From Salon

Immediately following the Big Bang, physicists estimate, based on QCD, that the universe was an immensely hot plasma of quarks and gluons that then quickly cooled and combined to produce protons and neutrons.

From Science Daily

It's what "glues" quarks together to make up other subatomic particles, such as protons or neutrons.

From Science Daily