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hadron, any member of a class of subatomic particles that are built from quarks and thus react through the agency of the strong force. The hadrons embrace mesons, baryons (e.g., protons, neutrons, and sigma particles), and their many resonances. All observed subatomic particles are hadrons except for the gauge bosons of the fundamental interactions and the leptons. Except for protons and neutrons that are bound in atomic nuclei, all hadrons have short lives and are produced in the high-energy collisions of subatomic particles. The other three basic forces of nature also affect hadron behaviour: all hadrons are subject to gravitation; charged hadrons obey electromagnetic laws; and some hadrons break up by way of the weak force (as in radioactive decay), while others decay via the strong and the electromagnetic forces.
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