A quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly observed or found in isolation; they can be found only within hadrons, such as baryons (of which protons and neutrons are examples), and mesons.

Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly observed or found in isolation; they can be found only within hadrons, such as baryons (of which protons and neutrons are examples), and mesons.

Quarks

Summary: Physicists now know why quarks, the building blocks of the universe, move more slowly inside atomic nuclei, solving a 35-year-old-mystery. Quarks, the smallest particles in the universe, are far smaller and operate at much higher energy levels than the protons and neutrons in which they are found.

The strong force and you The Higgs field gives mass to fundamental particles—the electrons, quarks and other building blocks that cannot be broken into smaller parts. The energy of this interaction between quarks and gluons is what gives protons and neutrons their mass.

Strong. The strong force holds quarks together to form hadrons, so its carrier particles are whimsically called gluons because they so tightly “glue” quarks together. (Other name candidates included the “hold-on,” the “duct-tape-it-on,” and the “tie-it-on!”)

Gravity is the force that all objects with mass exert upon one another, pulling the objects closer together. The tiny particles that make up matter, such as atoms and subatomic particles, also exert forces on one another.

strong nuclear force

Chemical bonds

Atoms stick together by sharing electrons that exist in the outermost layer or “orbital” of electrons encircling the atom, called the valence electrons.