Video Transcript
The diagram below shows a composite
particle made up of three quarks. What is that particle?
Quarks are subatomic particles and
fundamental constituents of matter. They make up larger subatomic
particles, such as protons and neutrons. There are six types or flavors of
quarks, including up, charm, top, down, strange, and bottom. Each quark contains a fractional
electric charge. Three of the flavors of quarks have
a charge of positive two-thirds 𝑒, while the other three flavors have a charge of
negative one-third 𝑒, where 𝑒 is the electrical charge carried by one proton.
To answer this question, we need to
use the diagram given to determine the identity of a particle. We can see that this composite
particle is composed of one down quark and two up quarks. We can determine the overall charge
of the unidentified particle by summing the charges of its two up quarks and one
down quark. This gives us a value of one
𝑒. We can deduce from the charge that
the particle is likely a proton. In fact, a proton is composed of
one down quark and two up quarks.
So the composite particle shown
that consists of one down quark and two up quarks is a proton.
