Quark Plus One

Last year our team brought you a trio

Who played for us with much brio.

This year with much help from France

We still continue to advance

And so today we are all set

A trio plus one, a quartet.

The trio goes by the name of Quark.

I wondered why this physical spark.

But overcoming quizzical panics

I looked to quantum mechanics.

Three coloured quarks can harmonise

And only when they unionise

Do they form a particle.

For quarks this is an article

Of faith. They combine in threes.

The union’s all the physicist sees.

So far there is no solo quark.

In groups of three they make their mark.

I think Yaëlle, Manuel, Gaël

In choosing Quark, selected well.

But when in need of a Clarinet,

With Richard, they form a quartet.

 

Although I’m not at all sure whether

They’ll continue playing together.

But if they do they’ll need a name.

They could continue the physics game.

Of course quark also means soft cheese,

But that’s in German, so let’s please

Forget that, as an explanation,

And return to the physics situation.

Three quarks combine to make a proton.

Around which whirls an electron.

And once you get into the game

You find that Atom is the name.

If you’ve developed an allergy

To this extended analogy

I assure you that this rhyme

Will not persist to the end of time.

Before the musicians take charge

I must thank our partners Taj

And Grover Wines for food and drink.

And with those words of thanks I think

We’ll let Richard Malblanc and Quark

Play their music and make their mark.