Using the up, down, and strange quarks only, we have to construct, if possible, a baryon (a) with and ; (b) with and .

Solution:             Click For PDF Version

Properties of the fundamental quarks are as given in the following table:

Quark	Symbol	Charge (e)	Spin	Baryon Number	Strangeness
Up	u				0
Down	d				0
Strange	s				-1

(a)

A baryon will comprise of three quarks. We note that a baryon with strangeness has to necessarily have out of the three quarks two s, which will have charge . Therefore, a baryon with and is not possible.

(b)

A baryon with and will be the three quark combination uuu.