quarks
Today, scientists think that electrons truly are fundamental particles that cannot be broken down into smaller, simpler particles. They are a type of fundamental particles called leptons. Protons and neutrons, on the other hand, are no longer thought to be fundamental particles. Instead, they are now thought to consist of smaller, simpler particles of matter called quarks. Scientists theorize that leptons and quarks are held together by yet another type of fundamental particles called bosons. All three types of fundamental particlesleptons, quarks, and bosonsare described below. The following Figure below shows the variety of particles of each type.