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Pentaquarks

Posted by timothy on from the cheesy-bits dept.

jafuser writes "Physicists are quite confident that they have discovered a new baryonic state called a 'pentaquark' which is a particle composed of *five* quarks (4 quarks and one anti-quark to be precise). Up until now, quarks were only observed to come together in groups of two (mesons) or three (baryons). If you still haven't gotten comfortable with knowing your leptons from your hadrons, I suggest clicking through an excellent site at Particle Adventure."

8 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. Five Quarks? by Atario · · Score: 4, Funny

    I suppose that's what happens when the last epsiode of Star Trek: The Next Generation collides with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

    --
    "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
    1. Re:Five Quarks? by Suidae · · Score: 3, Funny

      Does the Anti-Quark have a goatee? I'd like to see that.

  2. Re:Easy mistake by kurosawdust · · Score: 2, Funny
    that's actually a valid component of matter - for example, in a wonderful bit of irony the dean of my college's physics department was composed mostly of hardons. The students bookbags generally contained ironons, too.

    and if you read enough Frijtof Capra, youll find out about the zen-tastic yin and yang of the particle known as the "waxon", and its complement - the anti-waxon.

  3. Ohh, I love it... by joto · · Score: 4, Funny

    They have an explanation for the general public, the general scientist, and the physicist. Obviously, they care about accurate science reporting.

  4. They're all just a bunch of reverse engineers! by Bob+Bitchen · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's interesting to note that this form of reverse engineering is revered and those practicing are held in high esteem (usually) but that more meso-scale reverse engineering is considered lowly and usually is illegal. Ponder that....

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    1. Re:They're all just a bunch of reverse engineers! by KDan · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well I guess God must have forgotten to file for patents on the nature of the universe...

      Daniel

      --
      Carpe Diem
  5. Re:Easy mistake by Red+Rocket · · Score: 2, Funny


    You'll also find that, if you study the entire faculty and staff, you'll discover that they are actually made of individual particles called "persons".

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    - Hail to our fearless misleader! Fool speed ahead!
  6. Re: Easy mistake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The restaurant down the street serves an interesting soup composed of wontons.