What is the secret behind the striking similarity between a quark pair and a bar magnet?

Question

If one tries to split a pair of quark and an anti quark, one ends up with two pairs, in the same way, when one tries to break a magnet in half, one end up in the same way with two magnets, so is this a coincidence?

Answer 1

Under the hood, it isn't as similar as it looks.

For background on quarks, see these Veritasium videos: Empty Space is NOT Empty and Your Mass is NOT From the Higgs Boson

As these say, if you try to separate a quark/antiquark pair, you have to add so much energy that you create another quark/antiquark pair. You wind up with two pairs, neither of which is separated.

For background on magents, see the Veritasium/MinutePhysics video MAGNETS: How Do They Work?

As this explains, there are no N and S particles that could be separated. Even at the level of a single particle, the particle itself is a tiny magnet with a N and S end. A bar magnet contains a lot of these lined up. If you break a bar magnet, you get smaller magnets where tiny magnets line up.