protons

Latest about protons

3D illustration of an atom and quarks.

There's a Giant Mystery Hiding Inside Every Atom in the Universe

By Rafi Letzter published

No one really knows what happens inside an atom.

Cosmology
LHC particle collisions

Einstein's Theory Predicts a Weird State of Matter. Could It Be Lurking in the World's Largest Atom Smasher?

By Tim Childers published

This mysterious matter was predicted from Einstein's theory of special relativity, but physicists can't seem to find it!

Physics & Mathematics
sour lemon face

Why Do People Scrunch Up Their Faces After Tasting Something Sour?

By Grant Currin published

Why do we give such a sour-looking response to sour foods?

Health
the big bang

From Big Bang to present: Snapshots of our universe through time

By Adam Mann published

Tripping through cosmic time.

Cosmology
An ordinary proton or neutron (foreground) is formed of three quarks bound together by gluons, carriers of the color force. Above a critical temperature, protons and neutrons and other forms of hadronic matter "melt" into a hot, dense soup of free quarks

What Makes the Strong Force So Special?

By Paul Sutter published

The Force is (super) strong with these quarks.

Particle Physics
Inside this neutron star, the strongest stuff in the universe may be hiding.

The Strongest Material in the Universe Could Be (Nuclear) Pasta

By Brandon Specktor published

These noodles of neutrons may be 10 billion times stronger than steel.

Astronomy
Two protons collide inside the Large Hadron Collider's LHCb experiment.

Lawbreaking Particles May Point to a Previously Unknown Force in the Universe

By Jesse Dunietz published

Scientists aren't yet certain that electrons and their relatives are violating the Standard Model of particle physics, but the evidence is mounting.

Particle Physics
Periodic Table of Elements

Is There an Element Zero?

By Ross Pomeroy published

Is it possible to make an element zero? Does it already exist?

Elements
The potential new tetraquark particle, made of four quarks, decays into two mesons, or pairings of two quarks, which then decay into other daughter particles.

Never-Seen-Before Tetraquark Particle Possibly Spotted in Atom Smasher

By Clara Moskowitz published

Data from the DZero experiment shows evidence of a particle containing four different types of quarks.

Particle Physics
Protons collide at 13 tera-electronvolts, sending showers of particles through the CMS detector inside the Large Hadron Collider.

Record-Breaking Energy Unleashed in Largest Atom Smasher

By Jeanna Bryner published

The beauty of the fallout from particles slamming into each other with record-breaking energy can be seen in images released yesterday.

Particle Physics
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