A quark is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei.
A gluon is an elementary particle that acts as the exchange particle (or gauge boson) for the strong force between quarks.
Tiny particles called quarks and gluons are the building blocks for larger particles such as protons and neutrons, which in turn form atoms. However, quarks and gluons behave very differently than those larger particles.
Researchers have found that an atom has a nucleus, that nucleus contains protons and neutrons, and that those particles in turn are made of quarks and gluons(particles that bind quarks together). But most physicists believe quarks to be the smallest building blocks of matter.
The force between two quarks becomes larger as they move farther apart, whereas the force between a nucleus and an electron, or two nucleons in a nucleus, grows weaker as their separation increases.
Each electron has an electrical charge of -1. Quarks make up protons and neutrons, which, in turn, make up an atom's nucleus. Each proton and each neutron contains three quarks. A quark is a fast-moving point of energy.