What is Kaon?
[[File:Quark structure kaon plus.svg|thumbnail|300px|right|A K<sup>+</sup> made of one [[up quark]] (u) and one [[strange quark|strange antiquark]] (s with a line over it)]] '''Kaons''' are a specific type of [[meson]] (mesons are [[particle]]s made of one [[quark]] and one [[Antimatter|antiquark]]). What makes kaons unique is that they are made of one [[up quark]] or [[down quark]], and one [[strange quark]]. (One of the two quarks that make of a '''kaon''' must be an [[Antimatter|antiquark]], and the other must be normal matter. For example, a kaon can be made of one up quark and a strange antiquark). The discovery of kaons was significant because it proved the existence of yet another flavour (type) of quark, the [[strange quark]]. There are four types of kaons, but two of them are relatively easy to understand. There is the K<sup>+</sup> and the K<sup>0</sup>. The + and 0 above the letter K refer to whether the charge is positive, or 0 (neutral). The K<sup>+</sup> is made of one up quark, and one strange antiquark. Since antiparticles have the opposite charge of their counterpart (and since normal strange quarks have a charge of -1/3), 2/3 + 1/3 = a +1 charge, or simply a + charge. (Also because antiparticles have the opposite charge of their counterpart, if you change the up quark in a K<sup>+</sup> to an up antiquark and the strange antiquark to a normal strange quark, you get the opposite charge, forming a K<sup>–</sup>). Since down quarks and strange quarks have the same charge, if either one of them is an antiparticle, the overall charge is zero. Therefore, a K<sup>0</sup> can either be made of one down quark and strange antiquark, or one down antiquark and one normal strange quark. {{elementary}} {{physics-stub}} [[Category:Subatomic particles]]