The proton was discovered around 1920 when it was officially given the name by Ernest Rutherford. The discovery was the complement to the electron, discovered prior, which balanced the electrical charges in the atom. The proton, along with the neutron which would be discovered a decade later, are considered nucleons that reside in the nucleus of the atom. The proton has a positive charge, the electron has a negative charge and the neutron is neutral.

The current explanation of the proton is that it is composed of particles known as quarks. In most experiments, the proton is found to have three quarks, although an exotic arrangement of five quarks has also been found. The latter five-quark arrangement was first reported in 2003 and coined the pentaquark, which consists of four quarks and an anti-quark. It wasn’t until 2015 that the pentaquark could be reproduced by CERN.

In the three quark model, the proton is believed to consist of two up quarks and one down quark. A quark is never in isolation, meaning it can never be found alone (one quark). Instead, when particles are smashed together and quarks are detected, they are described like ends of rubber bands that stretch, but eventually pull quarks back together again. This is known as quark confinement.
Quark confinement

Despite the belief that the proton consists of three quarks, the following observations have been made in electron capture and beta decay:

  1. In an atom, a proton can capture an electron to become a neutron
  2. A proton may decay to a neutron with the emission of a positron and a neutrino




The recent high-energy experiments have found the true pentaquark model of the proton: four quarks and an anti-quark. In fact these quarks may be highly-energetic electrons as determined both by wave equations in EWT and also experimental evidence. This model matches beta decay experiments explained in the weak force section and also outlined in the Forces paper. Other proof of the pentaquark model was the calculation of the proton radius. Here, the common observations from proton collision experiments will be explained.  The proposed structure of the proton is based on electrons, positrons and neutrinos, all of which are found in protons and neutrons when they naturally decay (beta decay).

proton pentaquark model



Composite Particle

The proton is a known composite particle, consisting as a formation of other particles.  Like the formation of particles themselves, a composite particle follows the same rules:

  • Particles can be placed at standing wave nodes where amplitude is minimal to create a composite particle
  • Composite particles will be stable in 3D space if at geometries where particles can remain at or near nodes (e.g. tetrahedron)


Low-Energy Collisions – Three Quarks

Why is the proton considered to have three quarks?  In the 1960s, particle accelerator experiments with lower energies began colliding protons and found three quarks.  The proton is truly a pentaquark (five quarks), but low energy collisions failed to detect one of the quarks and the anti-quark due to destructive wave interference.  Thus, only three quarks were detected. Further, it’s possible that the effect of the fourth quark and anti-quark on one of the remaining three quarks could cause slight constructive wave interference so that it appears to have slightly more energy (down quark) than the other two (up quarks).

three quarks proton collision

High-Energy Collisions – Five Quarks

By 2015, CERN validated the true pentaquark structure of the proton. Now at higher energy collisions, the remaining quarks have sufficient kinetic energy to separate them and all four quarks and an antiquark appear.

Five Quarks


What are Quarks?

Quarks are never found in isolation outside of a proton or neutron, so they are unlikely to be elementary particles that become the building blocks of these particles.  A combination of stable particles that are found in nature are more likely – electrons and positrons.  In fact, these particles are found in the decay process of protons and neutrons.

Two electrons, or two positrons, typically repel each other due to constructive wave interference of traveling waves.  However, within a standing wave, particles are stable at nodes where amplitude is zero.  This causes a place for two same-charge particles to be stable, if there is sufficient energy to reach the node.  In the Forces paper, the calculated energy of two electrons to reach this node is significant – nearly the speed of light. Once reaching the node, the energy is stored between the particles in the gluon, and the continual energy required for spin reduces longitudinal wave amplitude such that the electron no longer has its same charge.  Most of the energy is now a transverse wave seen in the strong force and also keeping the electron in orbit.  The electron now appears as a quark. The explanation of electrons as quarks is found in recent experimentsElectron-positron collisions do indeed create quarks, including the tetraquark that is the proposed vertices of the proton in this model.

  • Four Quarks (nucleon shell) – four high-energy electrons or four high-energy positrons bound by the strong force at standing wave nodes with energy stored as transverse waves (gluons) creates a composite particle with a neutral charge.

nucleon empty

  • Five Quarks (proton) – a positron held weakly by the electric force in the center of the nucleon shell becomes the proton.
  • Six Quarks (neutron) – an electron added to the proton, held weakly by the electric force in the center of the proton, creates the neutron due to destructive wave interference that neutralizes the charge of the positron.


Proton Spin & Color

The explanation of color and the proton’s spin must also match experiments in the proposed structure of the proton. First, spin can be explained in the figure below. The four electrons in the vertices of the tetrahedron might have spin that adds to zero. The positron would have spin +½ or -½, giving the proton its spin.


Proton Spin


Spin is possibly the reason for determining the color of quarks, or the gluons that connect each of the quarks together. The model for color was based on the current understanding of a proton’s three-quark arrangement. There are three colors: Red, Green and Blue. Quarks don’t really have color, but this model was developed to simplify the understanding of the quark arrangement. When three quarks are detected, there would be three electrons with spin and one undetected electron-positron combination that may affect one of the electrons, causing it to be the down quark in the arrangement.

Thus, the following would be the possible combinations of the gluon arrangements in the figure above (giving each a color name to map to the known colors):

  • Red: Two electrons of same spin (+½ and +½; or -½ and -½)
  • Green: Two electrons of opposite spin (+½ and -½)
  • Blue: One electron and the combination of the electron affected by the annihilated electron-positron (+½ and -½ + -½ + ½; or -½ and +½ + -½ + ½)


Proton Decay

A nucleon is stable until an event occurs at a given probability that increases energy to dislodge one of the center particles.  The tetrahedral particles require a significant amount of energy to separate and will only do so temporarily – known as quark confinement. It is the center particles of the nucleon that are held in place by electric forces, not strong forces.

Random, but predictable collisions, such as solar neutrinos could provide the energy to dislodge the particle.  Consider a solar neutrino with inbound kinetic energy that collides with a particle in the atom, causing electron capture or beta decay.  This would satisfy the conditions of the creation and decay of the proton:

  1. Electron capture – a neutrino collides with an electron in an atom, transferring energy to the electron to overcome the repelling force of the proton.  The electron annihilates with the positron in the center and are now destructive waves. The proton becomes a neutron.
  2. Beta minus decay – a neutrino collides with the positron in the proton’s center, dislodging it. The proton sheds the positron and becomes a neutron.




Proof of the energy wave explanation for the proton is the calculations, derivations and explanations of:

  • Fine structure constant – derivation shows relationship to electrons as quarks
  • Strong force – calculations of the forces for binding energy of quarks and also the repelling force for orbitals
  • Orbital force – explains an electron in orbit around a proton on the same axis of quark alignment as the strong force
  • Weak force – the explanation of beta decay and the weak force are shown for all possible decay scenarios
  • Proton Radius – the calculated spacing for quarks and the size of the proton are within range.
  • Proton Mass – the calculated mass for the proton (also below)


Proton Mass – Calculation

The proton is a composite particle (made of other particles) and cannot use the Longitudinal Energy Equation. The proton’s mass is calculated using the proposed structure on this page. The proposal that quarks are highly-energetic electrons when in a position of a standing wave node is further validated by the similarity between the proton mass and electron mass in wave constant form, including two constants for the electron that appear in the proton’s mass derivation (Ke and Oe).

Equation: Proton mass

Proton Mass Derived and Calculated

Result: 1.6726E-27 kg
Comments: No difference (0.000%) from the CODATA value of the proton mass.