We have heard that electron, proton and neutrons are the smallest or fundamental particles which constitutes the building blocks of every element. But there exist still smaller particles which makes up neutron and proton. These smallest particles of the universe discovered till date are known as quarks.
The word quarks was first used by James Joyce as 'Three quarks for Muster Mark! ' Quarks come in three kinds of colour charge red, green and blue. Quarks are not actually of these colours. It is just a way of categorizing them. Therefore the quantum field threory which deals with quarks is known as Quantum Chromodynamics(QCD). There are six types of quarks- up(u), down(d), top(t), bottom(b), charm(c), and strange (s). Protons are made up of 2 up and 1 down quark whereas neutrons are made up of 1 up and 2 down quarks. Up quark has a charge of +2/3 and down quark has a charge of -1/3.
Quarks always sticks together as the attraction between quarks strengthens as they are pulled apart unlike the EM force which weakens when pulled apart. As EM force is mediated by photons, the strong nuclear force is mediated by Gluons. Hence the strong nuclear force is generated by exchange of gluons between quarks of different color charge. The quantum physics is becoming more complicated due to discoveries of so many particles and there are many more to be discovered!
particle physics is always awesome
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