Pions

Pions are unstable particles that consist of one quark and one anti-quark. Three different kinds of pions can be made in ElementaryCraft:


 * Pionminus red.png Pion Plus (also known as pion+ or $$\pi^+$$), made from an upquark and an anti-downquark
 * The Pion Nul (also pion0 or $$\pi^0$$), made from two upquarks or two downquarks; one of these must be an anti-quark
 * The Pion Minus (also pion- or $$\pi^-$$), made from a downquark and an anti-upquark

Apart from their appearance, all of these particles behave very similarly in the Minecraft world.

Since pions are crafted from quarks, many different crafting recipes are possible: see the associated crafting page for details. An example recipe for each of the pions would be as follows:


 * Pion Plus: 1 red upquark + 1 red anti-downquark + 7 gluons
 * Pion Nul: 1 red upquark + 1 red anti-upquark + 7 gluons
 * Pion Minus: 1 red downquark + 1 red anti-upquark + 7 gluons

Like neutrons, pions are unstable and decay (through the weak force) when they are placed in the world. After some time, they disappear and leave a weak boson behind. Because of this decay, pions do not occur in your day-to-day life, which is why most people are unfamiliar with them. Similarly to neutrinos, they are also not used in any crafting recipes, severely limiting their usefulness.

The pion+ and pion- are charged: they carry a positive and negative electric charge, respectively. This means they are affected by the Coulomb force. Try putting two pions in the world and watch them repel or attract (before they decay, of course). The pion0 is neutral and is therefore not attracted or repelled.

Pions are used in the setup for the gluon farm: when a pion is pulled apart, it creates a large amount of gluons depending on the force they were pulled apart with. In Elementary Craft, the pion can be pulled apart by placing it between two minecarts.