Jefferson Lab Site Tour

Jefferson Lab was built so that scientists could study particles within atoms called quarks. Quarks were first observed in 1969 at the Stanford Linear Accelerator. Six types of quarks have been discovered: Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top and Bottom.

Up and Down quarks are found within protons and neutrons, the particles that form the nuclei of atoms. Every proton is made from two Up quarks and one Down quark and every neutron is made from two Down quarks and one Up quark. Quarks are held to one another by other particles called gluons. The experiments done at Jefferson Lab will help scientists understand how quarks and gluons behave when they are packed together inside the nucleus.