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illustration Quark

Quark

[kwɑrk]

Part of speech: noun

Origin: German, 20th century

1.

Any of a number of subatomic particles carrying a fractional electric charge, postulated as building blocks of the hadrons.

2.

A type of low-fat curd cheese.

Examples of Quark in a sentence

"The physics professor's research was devoted to observations of the quark."

"I enjoy a bowl of quark and fresh fruit every morning for breakfast."

About Quark

There's a quark, which is a type of particle and a fundamental component of matter. Then there are the different types of quarks, or flavors, named up, down, bottom, top, strange, and charm. Who knew physicists were so poetic? Then, of course, there's the dairy product called quark, better known to Americans as cottage cheese.

Did you Know?

We won't give you a physics lesson, but we will discuss how quark particles got their name. Physicist Murray Gell-Mann knew that he wanted to pronounce his newly discovered particles as "kwark," but he settled upon the spelling after reading "Three quarks for Muster Mark!" in "Finnegans Wake" by James Joyce.

illustration Quark

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