Hadron facts for kids

A hadron is a tiny particle, even smaller than an atom. Think of it as a building block of matter. Hadrons are special because they are made up of even tinier particles called quarks.

Quarks are fundamental particles that have a special property called electrical charge. They also have different "flavors," like 'up', 'down', and 'strange'. The electrical charge of a single quark is always a fraction, like 2/3 or -1/3. But when quarks combine to form a hadron, their charges add up to a whole number. For example, a neutron is made of two 'down' quarks and one 'up' quark. Their charges combine like this: -1/3 + -1/3 + 2/3 = 0, making the neutron electrically neutral.

Quarks are never found alone. They always exist in groups and are held together very tightly by something called the strong nuclear force. Scientists believe there are 6 different flavors of quarks.

There are two main types of hadrons, based on how quarks combine:

• baryons: These hadrons are made of three quarks.
• mesons: These hadrons are made of one quark and one anti-quark (which is like a quark but with an opposite charge).

Hadrons are affected by the strong nuclear force, which keeps them stuck together over very short distances. At the center of every atom is a nucleus, which is a cluster of protons and neutrons. Protons and neutrons are both types of hadrons!

What Hadrons Do

Hadrons are super important because they make up most of the matter we see around us. Protons and neutrons, which are hadrons, form the nucleus of every atom. Without them, atoms wouldn't exist, and neither would anything else!

Types of Hadrons We Know About

Scientists have discovered many different kinds of hadrons. Here are some of the most common ones:

Baryons

Baryons are hadrons made of three quarks.

• Proton: This is a very common particle found in the nucleus of every atom. It's made of two 'up' quarks and one 'down' quark (uud). Protons have a positive electrical charge.
• Neutron: Also found in the nucleus of atoms, the neutron is made of one 'up' quark and two 'down' quarks (udd). Neutrons have no electrical charge; they are neutral.

Mesons

Mesons are hadrons made of one quark and one anti-quark.

• Pion
• Kaon

There are many more types of baryons and mesons that scientists study! You can find more detailed lists if you're curious: complete list of baryons, complete list of mesons.

Hadrons Scientists Are Still Looking For

Scientists also predict that other types of hadrons might exist, even though they haven't found solid proof yet. These include:

• Tetraquark: This would be a hadron made of four quarks.
• Pentaquark: This would be a hadron made of five quarks.

Finding these new types of hadrons would help us understand even more about how matter is put together!

See also

In Spanish: Hadrón para niños