Baryons, taken from the Greek word for heavy, is a term that refers to a class of subatomic particles of high mass. With the discovery of the neutron in 1932, the neutron and proton were grouped together as the baryons, in contrast to the considerably lighter electron. With the discovery of subparticles, new categories had to be introduced. A particle called the photon was assigned its own category, while the leptons category includes the electron and the neutrino.

The baryon classification took on new members, including particles more massive than the proton called hyperons. These new baryons included the lambda particle, the sigma particles and the negatively charged omega-minus. The lambda particle is a neutrally charged hyperon that can replace particles in the nucleus of the atom. The sigma particles can be positive, negative, or neutral. The omega-minus particle is another hyperon classified...