all matter is made up of electrons and quarks (up, down, strange, charm, top, bottom), each quark has a 1/3 charge or 2/3 charge right? So how much mass does a quark have? Aren't Quarks mostly made up of Invisible force, and the mass is near zero? So how is it then that everything is made up of pretty much nothing?
2006-07-09 10:58:43 · 7 answers · asked by BIGDAWG 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Quark charges are 2/3 and -1/3 of the charge of an electron. The mass depends on the generation (up and down are first generation, charm and strange second generation, top and bottom are third generation). With each "generation" the mass increases. For example, the up quark has about 0.003GeV/c², but the higher generation charm quark has a mass of about 1.3GeV/c² etc. They are fundamental particles (as are electrons, which are leptons).
The mass is definitely not 0 though, even though it is very small. The amount of space quarks and leptons occupy is absolutely minute in comparison to the size of an atom though, which makes it pretty fascinating...so yes...in a way only VERY small amounts of space are taken up, even in solid materials.
2006-07-09 11:07:21 · answer #1 · answered by the_bendude 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
well, in the standard model, quarks are elementary. They are not composed of anything other than energy. In superstring theory / M-theory, quarks (and all other elementary particles) are composed of little vibrating strings of "energy".....vibrating in 11dimensional space. More to the point though, it's thought that some aspect of the 11 dimensional space itself is vibrating and what we perceive is an elementary particle.
2006-07-09 18:14:57 · answer #2 · answered by idiuss 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Everything is made of matter and energy and in the end it is all energy. If you look at the structure of atoms and molecules it looks like mostly empty space. It is the same way with sub atomic particles, mostly empty space.
2006-07-09 18:08:48 · answer #3 · answered by Answer_dude 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A table listing the mass of quarks (to answer that part of your question, at least) can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/contactus/form.shtml
2006-07-09 18:04:51 · answer #4 · answered by HM 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As long as something is there, no matter how small, can never be considered nothing. Only nothing can equal nothing.
Everything exists because there are multitudes of these miniscule particles, eventually composing everything we see.
2006-07-09 18:02:58 · answer #5 · answered by SADFHorde 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Maybe at the smallest level, what we think are particles are really just bits of energy. So you are right, everything is made up of nothing.
2006-07-09 18:02:16 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Quarks is something when you don't know what something is
2006-07-09 21:08:11 · answer #7 · answered by 22 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋