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ERIC Number: EJ887954
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-May
Pages: 4
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
The Quark Puzzle: A Novel Approach to Visualizing the Color Symmetries of Quarks
Gettrust, Eric
Physics Teacher, v48 n5 p312-315 May 2010
This paper describes a simple hands-on and visual-method designed to introduce physics students of many age groups to the topic of quarks and their role in forming composite particles (baryons and mesons). A set of puzzle pieces representing individual quarks that fit together in ways consistent with known restrictions of flavor, color, and charge are depicted. The employment of the pieces in modeling familiar particles, such as protons and neutrons, as well as other, less familiar hadrons, is shown. Included are notes describing the process of creating the puzzle pieces, followed by some suggestions for their use in educational settings.
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A