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Glite Dictionary
bottom quark

bottom quark

9.9
A very small particle created in particle experiments that is much heavier than an electron
  • noun
  • /ˈbɑːtəm kwɑrk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : quark bottom
  • Scientists discovered that the bottom quark is significantly heavier than an electron.

So for a long time what people were trying to detect was bottom quarks.

Examples

  • The other quarks, the charm strange top and bottom quarks, they're just like the up and down quarks, but they've got larger masses.

  • The bottom quark is a fundamental particle with a charge of -1/3.

  • It's made of a anti of a bottom quark and A and an anti down quark.

  • In quark pairs, the smallest mass ratio is that of the bottom quark mass to the top quark mass, about 3 x 10^-2.

    Academic text (1997)

  • In particle physics, the bottom quark plays a crucial role in the formation of certain types of hadrons.

Synonyms

beauty quark
vsbottom quark
  • Specialized
9.9

A tiny particle with a small negative charge that is much heavier than an electron

has identical meaning but is an alternative name for the same particle

Surface Forms

bottom quark singular
bottom quarks plural

Morphology

bottom + quark

The compound 'bottom quark' follows a standard noun+noun pattern so a learner who knows 'quark' will readily infer it names a particular kind/type of quark. However, 'bottom' here is a technical label rather than a literal spatial descriptor, and the specific physical properties cannot be derived from the constituents, so the relation is only partially predictable.

Etymology

Bottom quark comes from the simple idea of pairs: scientists named one particle top and its partner bottom, so the heavy particle was called the bottom. One popular story says it was first called 'beauty', but the 'bottom' name stuck, and that's why bottom quark means that particular heavy elementary particle.