strange quark

noun

, Physics.

1. a quark having electric charge −1/3 times the elementary charge and strangeness −1; it is more massive than the up and down quarks.

strange quark

1. A quark with an electric charge of −1/3 and a mass of 391 electron masses, greater than that of the up quark and down quark, but smaller than that of other quarks. The presence of a strange quark contributes strangeness of −1 to the physical system containing it, while a strange antiquark contributes strangeness of +1.
2. See Table at subatomic particle

Word History and Origins

Origin of strange quark¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Two sets of similar but heavier particles can pop into brief existence: the muon, muon neutrino, charm quark, and strange quark; and the tau, tau neutrino, top quark, and bottom quark.

From Science Magazine

Likely composed of the mundane up and down quarks that are so plentiful in the nucleus, this diquark would then go in search of a third quark, ultimately bonding with a strange quark.

From Scientific American

During this process the beauty quark turns into a strange quark and produces a pair of leptons—specifically, a lepton and its antimatter partner.

From Scientific American

The second family consists of the charm quark, the strange quark, the muon and the muon neutrino, where the charged fermions have greater masses than their counterparts in the first family.

From Nature

Researchers also knew of a third type, the strange quark.

From Science Magazine