Does anyone know what a quark is?

Question

I was reading a little bit about atoms today, and I didn't really get the whole thing about quarks. What's a quark? What does it do in/or for atoms? How does that help us?

Answer 1

Quarks are one of the two types of fundamental particles that make up matter. The other is the lepton. There are 6 "flavors" of quarks (up, down, strange, charm, bottom, and top.) Protons are made up of two up quarks and one down quark. Neutrons are made up of two down quarks and one up quark. They are pretty complicated to understand without some knowledge of quantum mechanics but you can read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/quark.html
http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/VVC/theory/quarks.html

Answer 2

It takes a little bit of history, but it all helps explain what a "quark" is...

A thousand years ago, everybody "knew" that there were four elements-Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. They believed that every material in the world was made up of a combination of those four things. It seems silly now, but look at it from their view. Burn something-- fire and ash are left (liberate the Fire and Earth is left...) An animal dies and rots... (It releases its Water and converts back into Earth...)

An ancient Greek philosopher actually came up with the idea that everything in the world might be made up of tiny particles (the Greek word translates to our word "atom".

In the 18h century, Science caught up with the Greeks, and decided that the world is in fact made up of tiny particles called atoms. Later on, we discovered that Atoms themselves are made up of more elementary particles-- electrons, neutrons, and protons. These particles are named according to the electric charge they carry. Electrons are negatively charged, protons are positively charged, and neutrons carry no electrical charge. understanding these particles led to the ability to understand how electricity works, for one thing...

For a while every one assumed that elecrons and such were the smallest thing there is. Experiments done by speeding these particles up to incredible speeds and smashing them into one another showed that even smaller things flew apart when they collide with themselves at high energy levels.

even smaller particles called "quarks" are liberated in particle colliders. It has been shown that the same little doo dads are in every proton, neutron and electron, just in different proportions. Just as electrons, protons and neutrons helped us understand electricity-- these particles may help us understand other natural forces--things like the strong and weak nuclear forces, and maybe even gravity.

Quarks are strange critters and don't last very long on their own. But as physicists learn about them, they are unlocking knowledge that may revolutionize the way we understand the whole world.

Answer 3

In particle physics, quarks are one of the two basic constituents of matter (the other are the leptons). Quarks are the only fundamental particles that interact through all four of the fundamental forces.

Answer 4

He is the guy in charge of the cafeteria on star trek the next generation. No actually it is a very small part of an atom, an infinitesimal part