Why dont the quarks in neutrons annhialate?

[Jarfi]

Main Question or Discussion Point

The quarks in neutrons have opposide charges and therefore they should attract, but why dont they just fall into each other. Is it the heisenberg principle or degeneracy pressure?

 

[DrChinese]

The quarks in neutrons have opposide charges and therefore they should attract, but why dont they just fall into each other. Is it the heisenberg principle or degeneracy pressure?

Protons & electrons attract each other, and they don't annihilate either. So that must not be the issue. Particles and anti-particles can annihilate.

There are quarks in protons that are of different charges as well, as in neutrons. So that must not be the issue either.

In fact, quarks of different colors can be strongly attracted to each other. Groups of 3 can be very stable. The most elementary of those are protons & neutrons. The strong force pulls them (the quarks) together so tightly that charge is not much of a factor.