Exploring the Role of Quarks in Chemistry

[Greywolfe1982]

Homework Statement

Describe the use of quarks in chemistry.

Homework Equations

N/A (I think?)

The Attempt at a Solution

I've tried searching, and can find plenty of information on what the quark is, but I can't find a thing on how it is used. I searched google, google scholars, youtube (hoping for a lecture), and not really sure where to turn to next. Could anybody help?

Edit - I watched a TED video on string theory, and although it doesn't seem to direct relate to chemistry, would this still be a valid response? According to the speaker it explains things like the mass of particles, gravity, electromagnetic forces, etc.

 

[Borek]

Will you use Newton's law of universal gravitation to describe hydrogen atom?

 

[Greywolfe1982]

Er..I don't think so? From what I understand, the force of gravity acting upon most things is very minor compared to the other 3 fundamental forces. However, the TED speaker said there was 20+ things that string theory would reveal or at least confirm, do these have anything to do with chemistry?

 

[Borek]

From what I understand, the force of gravity acting upon most things is very minor compared to the other 3 fundamental forces.

Very good.

Now, what is energy scale required to observe individual quarks?

 

[Greywolfe1982]

What do you mean by observe individual quarks? I thought that was impossible, because quarks were confined within the baryon or meson? (I'm not really sure, that's just what I got out of reading a bit of "Introductory to Elementary Particles")

 

[Borek]

You are right about quarks being confined - I don't mean isolating them, but observing - there are experiments where we can 'see' effects of the quark presence. What energies are required for that?

 

[Greywolfe1982]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that, when using a particle accelerator, protons being collided would show distinct properties of the presence of quarks within the proton. I'm not even sure if that's right/relevant, it's just one of the many things I read today. But even if that is right, wouldn't that be more to do with a use in physics rather than chemistry?

 

[Borek]

You are on the right track.

How do energies used in the particle accelerators compare to energies in chemistry?

 

[Greywolfe1982]

I'm really not sure about what kinds of energies are used in particle accelerators. For Chemistry, all I can really think of is electrostatic attraction that occurs when there is an ionic bond (although my brain is pretty fried at this point, so I guarantee there's others I'm forgetting).