strange quark

noun

, Physics.

1. a quark having electric charge −1/3 times the elementary charge and strangeness −1; it is more massive than the up and down quarks.

strange quark

1. A quark with an electric charge of −1/3 and a mass of 391 electron masses, greater than that of the up quark and down quark, but smaller than that of other quarks. The presence of a strange quark contributes strangeness of −1 to the physical system containing it, while a strange antiquark contributes strangeness of +1.
2. See Table at subatomic particle

Word History and Origins

Origin of strange quark¹

First recorded in 1970–75