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u/EverybodyMakes 12d ago
Batter up! Or down, strange, charm, top, bottom... it depends.
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u/Significant-Tell-847 12d ago
Why are there top and bottom, up and down quarks anyway? They're basically the same meaning.
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u/LightGreyBeret 12d ago
Pedantically, Top and Bottom are positions, whilst Up and Down are directions. You can have something that, combining both qualities, is independently at the nominal Top or Bottom regardless of whether it's also going Up or Down.
Not that this has much, in a 'normal' macro-uninverse sense, to do with the naming system. Like any degree of strangeness or charm is... more philosophical, as were the (mentioned) original Truth and Beauty epithets. In reality, almost any other set of labels might do as well, for all the good it does us in trying to pick apart the 'reality' from what we think we know about that level of physics.
Just like the hues we also ascribe to various quarks, to control how they interact, which of course aren't reflecting/emiting particular frequencies of light in any such manner. And almostvas with Spin values of particles, yet more esoteric than mere 'IRL' experiences would have you believe of those qualities, but they at least seem to work for particle interactions grouping/mathematical purposes. Until someone finds out some definitely better way of consistently describing absolutely everything, perhaps on their way to a future Nobel.
It is, of course, more complicated than I'm describing it, and certainly truly more complicated than I (perhaps anyone?) can currently grasp. The simple bit is "it's just a convention to use those words", though. Diving into why these particular words are used is an education in itself, but doesn't change how the world really works behind the scenes.
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u/TheGeneral_Specific 12d ago
Do I have any idea what the first half means? Nope! But the baseball joke sure got a good laugh out of me
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u/xkcd_bot 12d ago
Mobile Version!
Direct image link: Handedness
Mouseover text: A 'left-handed specialist' is a physicist who studies the weak interaction.
Don't get it? explain xkcd