Quarks

[CDM]

Do quarks have any colour or shape if seen through the most powerful microscope?

[Dubbelosix]

Electrons have been carefully studied, which are indeed much smaller than the heavy quarks. The electron was once believed to be a point particle, but the charge distribution of an electron has shown it to be a perfectly spherical shape. So my intuition tells me, quarks would be no different.

[CDM]

What about colour?

[OceanBreeze]

Color has a very different meaning in particle physics than it has in ordinary usage; it refers to three quantum states and for that reason it has been compared to the three primary colors of red, green and blue but it actually has nothing to do with optical color of light. In fact, quarks are much smaller than the shortest wavelength of light; smaller even than the wavelength of an electron microscope. (They may in fact be infinitely small) They are only detected by indirect effects such as through conservation of momentum.

 

[Dubbelosix]

Colour is just another name for a charge, in many ways, we would have to reduce colour charge with the usual standard charges. Quarks are capable of neutralizing a charge of a particle, for instance, a neutron has no charge, but is composed of quark colour interactions. 

[Dubbelosix]

Keep in mind though, while a neutron has no charge, it certainly does HAVE a charge distribution, as shown by Feynmann. 

[Dubbelosix]

Can I ask, just out of curiosity, why his post was put in speculations?

 

I thought my answer ensured these things are no longer a speculation, but a direct interpretation of the current physics? I found his question quite sufficient for a physics mainstream.

[fahrquad]

To the best of my recollection Quark was a pinkish shade of beige.

 

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077066/fullcredits

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(TV_series)

Edited May 7, 2019 by fahrquad

[Dubbelosix]

Data had no colour, but quintessentially unimportant for the OP's question.

[fahrquad]

Do quarks have any colour or shape if seen through the most powerful microscope?

 

Quarks are subatomic particles that are too small to be seen and are beyond the visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum so they have no color.  The attached link goes to an explanation that is understandable without diving too deeply into particle physics.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark

[Dubbelosix]

Quarks are subatomic particles that are too small to be seen and are beyond the visible light part of the electromagnetic spectrum so they have no color.  The attached link goes to an explanation that is understandable without diving too deeply into particle physics.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark

 

We can observe them, through the right apparatus. this is like saying we cannot see atoms, but we electron microscopes to measure the structure of an atom. We do weakly interact with the quantum systems, so we can build some kind of coherent picture about their constructs.

 

As for quarks, we have been well aware for many decades now, through observation, weakly or not, that quarks always come in pairs. This whole ''we cannot see the quantum world,'' is an outdated notion.

[fahrquad]

The name "Quark" came from the James Joyce book Finnegan's wake (per link above).  It is not known if the name of the very short lived show came from the particle.  I am not even going to mention the dairy product of the same name.

Edited May 7, 2019 by fahrquad

[fahrquad]

We can observe them, through the right apparatus. this is like saying we cannot see atoms, but we electron microscopes to measure the structure of an atom. We do weakly interact with the quantum systems, so we can build some kind of coherent picture about their constructs.

 

As for quarks, we have been well aware for many decades now, through observation, weakly or not, that quarks always come in pairs. This whole ''we cannot see the quantum world,'' is an outdated notion.

 

True, but the question was if they were visible under a powerful microscope, implying visible light.

[CDM]

I was thinking that everything is made of quarks and electrons. Why do we see colour shapes and forms of different things even if

the particles that make them can not be seen with naked eye? How would we see the the world if we could see quarks and electrons?

That thought made me ask my question.