Why can't you pull apart a magnet?
Why can't you pull apart a magnet?
Imagine trying to pull apart a magnet in your pocket. No matter how hard you try, it won't split into two separate pieces.
In QCD, quarks are like the parts of a magnet. They can't be separated because the force between them doesn't weaken as you try to pull them apart. This idea is called quark confinement.
Example
If you have a magnet with 2 north and 2 south poles, you can't split it into individual north or south poles.
Remember this
Quark confinement explains why quarks are always found together in particles called hadrons.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quark
Why can't you see tiny particles called quarks?
QCD (quantum chromodynamics) describes
Why can't you split up the strong force like you split up water?
Asymptotic safety
Why do quarks behave differently at high-energy particle collisions?
Solitary confinement
Free quarks are never observed; they're always bound in hadrons
Strong CP problem
Strong CP problem: why does QCD not violate CP symmetry?
Renormalization
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