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baryon

In particle physics, a baryon is a type of composite subatomic particle that contains an odd number of valence quarks, conventionally three. Protons and neutrons are examples of baryons; because baryons are composed of quarks, they belong to the hadron family of particles. Baryons are also classified as fermions because they have half-integer spin.

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A baryon is a type of subatomic particle made up of three quarks, with protons and neutrons being the most familiar examples. Baryons matter because they are the fundamental building blocks that make up the nuclei of atoms, which in turn compose all ordinary matter in the universe.

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Image: Baryon-octet.svg

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Commons category: Baryons

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Article

13 sections

Contents

Background
Baryonic matter
Baryogenesis
Properties
Isospin and charge
Flavour quantum numbers
Spin, orbital angular momentum, and total angular momentum
Parity
Nomenclature
See also
Citations
Bibliography
External links

The name "baryon", introduced by Abraham Pais, comes from the Greek word for "heavy" (βαρύς, barýs), because, at the time of their naming, most known elementary particles had lower masses than the baryons. Each baryon has a corresponding antiparticle (antibaryon) where their corresponding antiquarks replace quarks. For example, a proton is made of two up quarks and one down quark; and its corresponding antiparticle, the antiproton, is made of two up antiquarks and one down antiquark.