ka·on
| \ ˈkā-ˌän
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Definition of kaon
: an unstable meson that occurs in both charged and neutral forms and is about 970 times more massive than an electron
Examples of kaon in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The kaon, a special case of meson particle, is made of one quark and one antiquark.
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Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, "Something Weird Just Happened That We Can't Really Explain With Existing Physics," 6 Mar. 2020
This symmetry would be all well and good if physicists had not discovered in 1964 that the weak nuclear force doesn’t share it: Two-quark particles called neutral kaons decay in ways CP symmetry forbids.
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Quanta Magazine, "Top Dark Matter Candidate Loses Ground to Tiniest Competitor," 27 Nov. 2019
Alternatively, the hidden depths of neutron stars might be filled with kaons — also made with strange quarks — that collect into a single lump of matter sharing the same quantum state.
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Quanta Magazine, "Squishy or Solid? A Neutron Star’s Insides Open to Debate," 30 Oct. 2017
An experiment in 1964 involving exotic particles called kaons violated charge-parity symmetry.
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Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "The Delicate Symmetry That Holds Physics Together," 13 Dec. 2017
The Xi decays into a particle called the lambda baryon and three lighter particles, the K- (or kaon) and two pions.
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Fox News, "‘Charming’ heavy particle discovered at world’s largest atom smasher," 11 July 2017
The most famous of these two-quark particles are kaons and pions.
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Adam Mann, WIRED, "Mysterious Subatomic Particle May Represent Exotic New Form of Matter," 17 June 2013
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'kaon.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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“Kaon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kaon. Accessed 1 Mar. 2021.
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The first known use of kaon was in 1958
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