A brief Introduction to the quarks.
Quarks are a type of elementary particles, combining to form hadrons (which include the spotlight-stealing neutrons and protons, as well as some other little particles like kaons and pions). There are six quarks – up, down, strange, charm, top and bottom. Each quark has their own little quirks known as flavour (the scientists must have been hungry), they are either positively or negatively charged, and they all have spin – like little invisible ballerinas. Here is a short psychoanalysis of each quark, so that you can decide for yourself which one truly deserves the title Top Quark.
The OGs™
Up Quark
She is the lightest of all the quarks with golden retriever energy and is here for the vibes. She is the lightweight of the group and is always down for a good time. Up Quark is always there for her best friend – the down quark – never failing to cheer him up when he is down.
Down Quark
The mellow quark. Although he is quiet and calm, when in a neutron he will dominate. He is the second lightest quark, so is sometimes overlooked, which is why he often seems a little down and out of it.
Second Gen™
Strange Quark
The quirky quark, if there is one. Even though he is negatively charged, think of Strange as a moody teenager, he’s a little confused and because of that he is a little annoyed. The strange quark is an angsty little drama queen. Essentially, he is the Loki of quarks.
Charm
The plump one, but not as heavy as the bottom quark. She is the polar opposite of her Strange friend, she has positive charge, so in my mind she is a happy little preteen girl who braids flowers into her hair and ‘charms’ everyone around her. She’s a colourful little quark you’d invite to a sleepover, and she’ll be just happy to be there. And a bonus point, particles containing her (or her evil twin) are ‘charmed’ – but so are we.
Gen Three™
Top Quark
The heavyweight champion of the quarks, even if only for a quadrillionth of a second. But don’t let the short life span put you off, their mysterious personality has been an enigma for physicists for the last 23 years. Discovered in 1995, top quarks are the weird generation between millennials and Gen-Z, so it’s no wonder they are difficult to come by. They decay through the weak force, into other kinds of quarks, but also into the W boson. Can you decide already whether this hefty boy is the top quark, or does their name deceive?
Bottom Quark
Also known as the Beauty Quark. They are the stable one. Confident in themselves, knowing they are unique and not found in everyday matter. This is one of the heavier quarks – yet they aspire to be a tiny up quark, so they lose some energy. But SHOCK! HORROR! The bottom quark has deceived us. Because they aren’t really a bottom quark, are they? No, they just engage in bottomonium (real term).
Now, we pass the judgement to you, dear reader. Which quark is the best? It’s your decision. To round up this chaos of an introduction to quarks, we would ask the physics teachers not to judge too harshly (although the physics is largely accurate).
Best flavours to you all,
Your passionate STEAM+ students (a physicist and a chemist)
