What are hadrons? Give examples.

Hadrons are particles composed of quarks that interact through the strong nuclear force.

Hadrons are a type of subatomic particle composed of quarks that are held together by the strong nuclear force. There are two types of hadrons: baryons and mesons. Baryons are made up of three quarks, while mesons are made up of one quark and one antiquark.

Examples of baryons include protons and neutrons, which are the building blocks of atomic nuclei. Other baryons include hyperons, which are particles that contain one or more strange quarks. Mesons include pions, which are the lightest mesons, and kaons, which contain strange quarks.

Hadrons are important in the study of particle physics because they are the particles that are affected by the strong nuclear force, which is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. The strong nuclear force is responsible for holding the nucleus of an atom together, and it is also responsible for the interactions between quarks in a hadron.

In addition to their importance in particle physics, hadrons also have practical applications in fields such as medicine and energy. For example, proton therapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses beams of protons to target cancer cells, while the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a particle accelerator that is used to study the properties of hadrons and other subatomic particles.