(noun. /kuh-werk/)
by Mikayla Feldbauer
What does it mean?
Everything in the universe is made of atoms. Atoms are made of incredibly small particles called protons, neutrons, and electrons. A quark is an indivisible component of matter that makes up particles such as protons and neutrons.
A quark is an elementary particle, or a particle which is not composed of other particles. There are six different types of quarks, known as flavors: up, down, strange, charm, top, and bottom. Along with other elementary particles, quarks are described in the Standard Model.The Standard Model is physicists’ understanding of the particles that make up our universe and the forces exerted on them.
A diagram of a proton. Protons are made of 2 up quarks (the circles labeled ‘u’ at the top) and one down quark. Image used unchanged from Arpad Horvath under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
How do I use it in a sentence?
“We often think of protons and neutrons as the smallest pieces of matter. This isn’t true; they are made of even more fundamental particles called quarks!”
Resources
A fun song about quarks from science communicator and TikTok star Hank Green: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kXkWXSXRA
A TED-ed video about the Standard Model and fundamental particles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehHoOYqAT_U
A short video from Physics Girl about quarks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LraNu_78sCw
