Solved cryptogram
Nobody can pull a single quark out of a proton. Pulling harder just makes new particles.
Physics Facts, sourced to Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Solve it yourself
This fact is a cryptogram here: 71 letters over 23 different ones, graded hard.
Or go to the puzzle’s own page first.
What it means
The force between quarks does not weaken with distance the way gravity and electricity do. Drag two apart and the pull between them stays roughly constant, so the energy you put in keeps climbing until there is enough of it to create a fresh quark and antiquark out of nothing. The string snaps and you are left holding two ordinary particles rather than one bare quark. Physicists call it confinement, and it has no everyday analogue.
The claim comes from Brookhaven National Laboratory.
- SourceBrookhaven National Laboratory
- CollectionPhysics Facts
- Difficultyhard
- Length71 letters, 23 of them different
Nearby in the collection
The facts either side of this one.
- U.S. Department of Energymedium, 76 letters
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 72 letters
- U.S. Department of Energyeasy, 73 letters
- HyperPhysics, Georgia State Universitymedium, 76 letters
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Scored closest to it by the model behind our guide to solving cryptograms.