Quark

These may be thought of as particles that make up other particles. They are not known to exist individually, but rather as components of larger particles, such as protons and neutrons.

Flavours

The different types of quarks are called flavours, of which there are six: up, down, top, bottom, strange and charm. These different types have a number of properties, such as charge, as seen in the table below:

Quark Charge
Up + 2/3
Top + 2/3
Charm + 2/3
Down - 1/3
Bottom - 1/3
Strange - 1/3

When quarks are put together to make a larger particle, these properties combine. For example, to make a proton, which has an overall charge of +1, two up quarks and one down quark are needed. To make a neutron, which has an overall charge of 0, one up quark and two down quarks are needed.

See Also