Outline
The Quirks of Quarks
Quirks are key details that regulate how quarks are combined to form larger particles. We specifically consider thermodynamic quarks that have been defined by the union of a thermodynamic seed with a conjugate seed. There are 10 different thermodynamic seeds, so thermodynamic quarks can be sorted into 10 different types.

For EthnoPhysics the energy of a particle is a number that mathematically represents the quirky characteristic of sensory magnitude or size. The relationship between size and energy is articulated using a calorimetric thought experiment to define specific energy.
We also consider that the temperature of a particle is an account of the urgency of any quirky feelings that are reified in the particle. The connection is made by discussing a thermometric thought experiment to define vis viva.
Thermodynamic Quarks | |||
---|---|---|---|
Quark Type | Quark Index | Internal Energy | Temperature |
U (MeV) | T (℃) |
||
U | 1 | 243 | -815 |
D | 2 | 0 | -1,034 |
E | 3 | -32 | 676 |
G | 4 | 298 | -1,185 |
M | 5 | 1,186 | -6,401 |
A | 6 | 3 | 6,529 |
T | 7 | 150 | 222 |
B | 8 | -85 | 0 |
S | 9 | 50 | -252 |
C | 10 | -53 | 100 |
The adjoining list summarizes an extended analysis of sensation aimed at making descriptions of experience that are more complete than a skeletal account of Anaxagorean sensations.
Sensory analysis begins with a hypothesis about conjugate symmetry. For simplicity we just assume that ordinary-quarks and anti-quarks are much the same as each other. Then laboratory experiments are introduced to move away from quirky thought experiments toward more collective perceptions. The audibility is used to compare and contrast different classes of sensation. And, finally, these differences are used to make numerical statements about internal energy and temperature. The large negative temperatures noted in the table are later associated with robust stability.
Thus quarks are described by two numbers that represent their quirks. The internal energy characterizes the quirk of size. Whereas the temperature
describes a quirk that is more like urgency. Details follow.
The First Quirk is Size
The sensory magnitude of a particle is a quirk that expresses how we are more aware of some sensations than others. It is the most important quirk even though it is difficult to say exactly what makes us more or less conscious of a perception. We might use words like significance, rank or caliber to describe this quirk. But usually we just call it the size.
Here is a thought experiment to try to be more definite about this quirky notion of size. First select some sensation and call it the calorimetric reference sensation. Mathematically represent this reference sensation using a positive number noted as
Do the experiment by comparing the calorimetric reference sensation with the Anaxagorean sensation associated with seed Z. Determine the numbers and
such that perceiving
copies of the calorimetric reference presents the same sensory magnitude as experiencing
copies of Z. Report the result as
The number is called the specific energy of the seed Z. It is always greater than zero because
and
are all positive numbers. Thus specific energy is fundamentally understood as a ratio of sensation .
The forgoing is a thought experiment, and results are quirky. There may be statistically significant patterns among groups of people, but even the gross categories used in the experiment depend on anthropological and linguistic quirks that are not universal. So a deeper analysis of sensory magnitude must appeal to other disciplines like physiology and psychology.
For instance Canadian academic work relating sensory ratios to space and time has been led by a political economist Harold Innis and a professor of English literature Marshall McLuhan . If that seems dubious, then recall Schrödinger’s observation1Erwin Schrödinger, Mind and Matter, page 76. Cambridge University Press, 1959. about how much of our physical knowledge is “suggested mainly by communication with other human beings”. Accordingly, EthnoPhysics is informed by the Toronto School of communications.
So to understand physics we must consider more than just physics. And that is why EthnoPhysics is illustrated with quantized ethnographic art. Moreover definite numerical values are not assigned to Instead, we use the results of calibrated laboratory experiments to develop the quirky idea of specific energy into a scientific account of internal energy.

Urgency is the Second Quirk
The sensory intensity of a particle is a quirk that describes feelings of need or exigency. Recall Ernst Mach’s remark that the perception of sensation is connected to “dispositions of mind, feelings, and volitions”2Ernst Mach, The Analysis of Sensations and the Relation of the Physical to the Psychical, pages 2. Translated by C. M. Williams and Sydney Waterlow. The Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago and London, 1914.. Some sensations are just more compelling than others.
So even when perceptions exhibit the same size, they may still be distinguished by their vividness or affect. A feeling may be attractive or scary, perhaps pleasant, or maybe painful. Anyway let us call this quality the urgency and try to clarify it with the following thought experiment.
First select some sensation and call it the thermometric reference sensation. Represent it using a positive number noted by . Compare this thermometric reference sensation with the Anaxagorean sensation associated with seed Z. Determine the numbers
and
such that perceiving
copies of the thermometric reference presents the same sensory urgency as experiencing
copies of Z. Report the result as
The number is called the vis viva of the seed Z. It is always greater than zero because
and
are all positive numbers. Thus the vis viva is fundamentally understood as a ratio of sensation .
The forgoing is a thought experiment, and results are idiosyncratic. There may be statistically significant patterns among various groups of people, but even the gross categories used in the experiment depend on anthropological and linguistic factors that are not universal. So a deeper analysis of sensory magnitude must appeal to other disciplines like physiology and psychology.
For example Canadian academic work relating sensory ratios to space and time has been led by a political economist Harold Innis and a professor of English literature Marshall McLuhan . If that seems surprising, then recall Schrödinger’s observation3Erwin Schrödinger, Mind and Matter, page 76. Cambridge University Press, 1959. about how much of our physical knowledge is “suggested mainly by communication with other human beings”. Accordingly, EthnoPhysics is informed by the Toronto School of communications.
So to understand physics we must consider more than just physics. There are some quirks involved. And that is why EthnoPhysics is illustrated with quantized ethnographic art. Moreover definite numerical values are not assigned to Instead, we use the results of calibrated laboratory experiments to develop the idea of vis viva into an account of temperature.

Conjugate Symmetry
Conjugate symmetry is obtained if sensations exhibit equivalent size and urgency when compared between left and right sides. If feeling a sensation on the left side always presents the same sensory size as feeling it on the right, then , the specific energy, of an odd conjugate seed is equal to the specific energy of an ordinary conjugate seed. And if their urgency is the same, then
the vis viva, of an odd conjugate seed is equal to that of an ordinary conjugate seed. We often assume that all sensory experience is perfectly balanced in this way.
Assumption of Conjugate Symmetry |
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and |
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Conjugate symmetry relieves us from having to pay very much attention to whether a sensation is experienced on the left or right side. The assumption simplifies analysis because it makes ordinary-quarks and anti-quarks much the same as each other; if left and right get mixed-up, the outcome of any calculation using the specific energy or vis viva remains unchanged. So using this hypothesis is a way of objectifying the description of sensation.
Conjugate Asymmetry is the Third Quirk
Conjugate Differences |
||
---|---|---|
of Internal Energy in (µeV) |
||
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
1 | U | 12.2 |
2 | D | -1.10 |
3 | E | -0.024 |
4 | G | 209 |
5 | M | -290 |
7 | T | 78.3 |
8 | B | 78.1 |
9 | S | 1.60 |
10 | C | 4.36 |
15 | Ⓓ | ? |
16 | Ⓛ | 39.0 |
all others | 0 |
Perfect conjugate symmetry implies that a particle and its corresponding anti-particle have the same mass. This has been experimentally tested.4 W.-M. Yao et al. (Particle Data Group). J. Phys. G, 33, 1 (2006). For protons the ratio is less than
and for electrons it is less than eight parts in a billion. So the approximation is excellent for nuclear particles.
But atomic spectroscopy measurements are now about a million times more exact, some are reported to a few parts in And so small asymmetries may be observed in the finely-balanced mechanical system of a hydrogen atom. Variations in size between quarks and anti-quarks are described using their internal energy
. For any sort of quark
, the conjugate difference is given by
These energy differences are typically stated in micro electronvolts, as shown in the accompanying table. For more detail, please see the discussion of fine structure in the spectrum of hydrogen.
Measuring Quirks
Measurement and doing laboratory experiments are important ways of making sensory descriptions that are scientific. Different people in different societies may have profoundly different ways of seeing things. So we make measurements to cope with perceptual variation. Mensuration is also a way to transcend personal sensory limitations. Indeed, a systematic quantitative approach to observation is crucial for objectifying the description of sensation.

Measurement techniques can be quite arbitrary to start, for example some determinations of length began by referring to people’s feet. But nonetheless observational methods have become very precise and dependable because experimental physicists have invested an enormous effort in developing calibration standards and highly accurate techniques.
For example, atomic clocks can be used to make time measurements that are good to about one part in . By comparison, in 2013 the US economy was 17 trillion dollars or about
cents. So physicists can be fussy in a way that is like counting every dime spent in the USA per year. When we speak of doing laboratory experiments, we mean that observations are being made and reported in this fastidious style.
Reference | Constant | Units | |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | touching ice | ![]() | (℃) |
![]() | touching steam | ![]() | (℃) |
![]() | not seeing the Sun | ![]() | (MeV) |
For EthnoPhysics, discussing laboratory practice starts with the reference sensations that are benchmarks from which all perceptions are judged and recognized. These sensations are mathematically represented by constants. And sometimes, the constants express calibration standards. See the accompanying table for examples where notes the temperature and
marks the internal energy. Quarks are represented by
or
for the bottom, charmed and down types.
Numerical values for these constants are established by convention, and are without any claim of universal validity. They can be altered by collective agreement if expedient. So, due to the variety of possibilities, a statement of measurement units is usually included with any complete experimental report. As measurement techniques become more refined, calibration standards are adjusted, and so these constants actually represent historical standards. For example, the internal energy of a down-quark is almost always taken as zero, as shown in the table. But precise observations of hydrogen reveal a tiny value of a few micro electronvolts.
Internal Energy
Internal energy extends the notion of specific energy so that the size of a particle can be established from calibrated laboratory experiments. Consider a generic particle P characterized by some repetitive chain of events noted as
where each orbital cycle is a bundle of seeds
Let each seed be described by the specific energy and
the audibility. We characterize P using a sum over all of these component seeds
The number is called the internal energy of P. The internal energy may be positive, negative or zero depending on a particle’s composition and some choice for the calorimetric reference sensation.
To establish numerical values for the internal energy consider a down quark defined by the pair of seeds . Applying the foregoing definition of internal energy gives
. If a down-seed has just about the same specific energy as an ordinary conjugate-seed, then
Internal Energy | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | (eV) | |
1 | U | 242 926 032 | ![]() | |
2 | D | -0 | ![]() | 000 027 2 |
3 | E | -31 966 250 | ![]() | |
4 | G | 298 359 162 | ![]() | |
5 | M | 1 185 795 604 | ![]() | |
6 | A | 3 122 059 | ![]() | |
7 | T | 149 556 239 | ![]() | |
8 | B | -85 011 771 | ![]() | |
9 | S | 50 119 218 | ![]() | |
10 | C | -53 062 870 | ![]() | |
11 | Ⓐ | -2 | ![]() | 22 |
12 | Ⓑ | -1 | ![]() | 80 |
13 | Ⓘ | -2 | ![]() | 11 |
14 | Ⓦ | -2 | ![]() | 55 |
15 | Ⓓ | -0 | ![]() | 028 8 |
16 | Ⓛ | -0 | ![]() | 049 0 |
Let us require experimental practice to obtain this consistently; for example, by using the down quark as a reference particle to set the null value when measuring internal energy. Down quarks are objectified from black sensations, so this requirement could be interpreted as closing any shutters and using insulation so that a measuring instrument is completely isolated and in the dark when indicating zero.
The other numbers shown in the accompanying table are obtained by juggling quark coefficients with observations of molecular bond strength and nuclear particle mass. The conventional unit used for reporting these measurements is the electronvolt abbreviated as (eV).
Results are presented without the use of scientific notation to graphically emphasize how quark energies range over about fifteen orders of magnitude. The structure of this huge variation governs the subsequent division of analysis into different regimes: Nuclear physics for Z ∈ { U, E, G, M, A, T, B, S, C }. Atomic physics when Z ∈ { Ⓐ, Ⓑ, Ⓘ, Ⓦ, Ⓓ, Ⓛ }. And if Z=D, then we consider dark quanta and dark energy .
In general, we use a conjugate difference and a conjugate mean
to describe the relationship between quarks and anti-quarks
But if conjugate symmetry can be assumed, then an ordinary quark and its associated anti-quark have the same internal energy. To see this, consider the generic quarks
By the foregoing definition, the internal energy for these particles is given by
But if then both quarks have the same energy, and we may use
the quark index to refer to either quark
Internal Energy is Conserved
Consider that each each orbital cycle of P may also be described as a bundle of quarks
Each quark is composed from a pair of seeds And from the foregoing definition of internal energy
Then changing the sum over seeds, to a sum over quarks, gives
So the internal energy of a compound quark is just the sum its parts. But quarks are conserved. And the internal energy of each quark has a fixed value. Then whenever some generic compound quarks
and
interact, if
And so internal energy is conserved. This also implies that any particle has the same internal energy as its anti-particle. Because If there is conjugate symmetry, then swapping quarks doesn’t change the total energy, so

Temperature
Temperature extends the notion of vis viva so that the urgency of objectified feelings can be established from calibrated laboratory experiments. Consider a generic particle P characterized by some repetitive chain of events noted as
where each orbital cycle is a bundle of seeds
Let each seed be described by , its audibility, and
, its vis viva. We characterize P using a sum over all of these component seeds
where is Boltzmann’s constant. The number
is called the temperature of P. This temperature may be positive, negative or zero depending on the particle’s composition and the choice of a thermometric reference sensation.
To establish numerical values start with the bottom quark defined by the pair of seeds . Applying the foregoing definition of temperature gives
If a bottom-seed has the same vis viva as a conjugate-seed, then
Temperature | ||
---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() |
1 | U | -815 |
2 | D | -1,034 |
3 | E | 676 |
4 | G | -1,185 |
5 | M | -6,401 |
6 | A | 6,529 |
7 | T | 222 |
8 | B | 0 |
9 | S | -252 |
10 | C | 100 |
11 | Ⓐ | ? |
12 | Ⓑ | ? |
13 | Ⓘ | ? |
14 | Ⓦ | ? |
15 | Ⓓ | ? |
16 | Ⓛ | ? |
Consider experimental practice to obtain this consistently; for example, by using bottom quarks as a reference to calibrate the measurement of temperature. This would depend on what we mean by touching ice because this feeling was used to specify freezing reference sensations and objectified to define bottom seeds.
But there are many different kinds of ice and to make reliable measurements we therefore need to specify the reference sensation more precisely. So, by “touching ice” we mean touching a slushy mix of frozen solid water and clean pure liquid water in an open container near sea level on Earth. This is an utterly conventional way of specifying zero on the Celsius temperature scale. So we note such a convention by writing as the Celsius temperature.
We have also defined the charmed quarks using the reference sensation of touching steam. And since there are different kinds of steam we also need to specify this sensation more carefully. So, by “touching steam” we mean touching the vapors rising from an open container of pure boiling water near sea level on Earth. This is a very traditional way of defining 100 . Charmed quarks are objectified from this sensation, so we require that their temperature is 100
.
The other temperatures listed in the accompanying table are obtained by juggling quark coefficients and laboratory observations of nuclear particles. The large negative temperatures are later interpreted to mean robust stability.
An ordinary quark and its associated anti-quark have the same temperature if conjugate symmetry can be assumed. To see this, consider the generic quarks
By the foregoing definition, the temperature of these particles is given by
But the assumption of conjugate symmetry asserts that So both quarks have the same temperature and we can use
the quark index to refer to either quark
Temperature of Compound Quarks
Consider that each each orbital cycle of P may also be described as a bundle of quarks
And let seeds be paired in sequence such that . Then the temperature, as defined above, can be changed from a sum over seeds to a sum over quarks
If P happens to be a solitary quark then the number seeds is just
and so
Substituting this back into the general expression for P’s temperature gives
But because there are two seeds in every quark. So finally
The temperature of a compound quark is just the average temperature of its component quarks. Swapping ordinary quarks with anti-quarks cannot change this average because . Thus any particle has the same temperature as its associated anti-particle. We write

1, 3 | Erwin Schrödinger, Mind and Matter, page 76. Cambridge University Press, 1959. |
---|---|
2 | Ernst Mach, The Analysis of Sensations and the Relation of the Physical to the Psychical, pages 2. Translated by C. M. Williams and Sydney Waterlow. The Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago and London, 1914. |
4 | W.-M. Yao et al. (Particle Data Group). J. Phys. G, 33, 1 (2006). |