Quarks. Computer artwork of the six types (or flavours") of quark. Quarks are sub-atomic particles which make up the larger particles such as the baryons and mesons. Quarks are divided into six flavours: clockwise from top left: up, charm, top, bottom, strange and down. A proton (an example of a baryon) is made up of three quarks (two ups and one down) held together by other particles known as gluons."