A quark is a fundamental constituent of matter
Observed in 1968 through deep elastic scatter
We found that protons aren't as simple as we thought
We thought they were solid particles, but they are not

Protons, in fact, are made up of three separate pieces
It just gets more confusing as our knowledge increases
But that is what a quark is, it's a piece of a proton
And they also make up other things, including the neutron

Oh, up, down, strange charm, top, bottom
If you don't know what a quark is, it don't matter, you still got'em
And with leptons and bosons, unless somethings amiss
They make up everything that we can see and that we know exists

Things made up of quarks, including protons and neutrons
Are composite particles that physicists call hadrons
Many types of hadrons are theoretically described
But most exist for only brief amounts of time

Quarks have electric charge, color charge, mass and spin
And having color charge means they exists soully in
Inside of other particles and cannot exist alone
Which why quarks have never been studied on their own

Up, down, strange charm, top, bottom
If you don't know what a quark is, it don't matter, you still got'em
And with leptons and bosons, unless somethings amiss
They make up everything that we can see and that we know exists

Quarks can join together in two different ways
Baryons and mesons, but most instantly decay
If a particle has three quarks, then it's a baryon
And if there's one quark and an anti-quark, then it is a meson

These tiny bits of matter are a part of almost everything
And there is no unified theory to make it less confusing
But the fact that we've identified that they exist at all
Is so God damn remarkable that I just sit in awe

Oh, up, down, strange charm, top, bottom
If you don't know what a quark is, it don't matter, you still got'em
And with leptons and bosons, unless somethings amiss
They make up everything that we can see and that we know exists