Quark Science

The top quark is the heaviest known elementary particle. Learn its mass, why it was hard to find, why it decays so fast and what toponium means.

Quark-gluon plasma explained simply: what it is, how hot it gets, how scientists make it and what the 2025 and 2026 LHC oxygen and neon results tell us.

What is the strong force? A simple guide to gluons, colour charge, why quarks are never alone and why most of a proton’s mass is energy.

The six quark flavours explained simply: up, down, charm, strange, top and bottom, with charges, generations and where each one appears.

Quark vs atom explained in simple words: size, parts, how many quarks are in an atom and the most common mistakes.

A quark star is a hypothetical star with a core of quark matter. Here is how the idea works, why it is not confirmed, and how scientists hope to test it.

The strange quark is one of six quark flavours. Learn why it has that name, where it appears and how it differs from up and down quarks.

Is anything smaller than a quark? As far as experiments show, no. Here is what we know, what is only an idea, and why the question is hard to answer.