The bottom quark is one of the six types of quarks in the Standard Model of particle physics. It has a charge of -1/3 and a mass of about 4.2 GeV/c², making it one of the heavier quarks. Bottom quarks combine with other quarks to form particles called hadrons, such as B mesons and bottom baryons. Discovered in 1977, the bottom quark plays a crucial role in understanding the weak force, one of the four fundamental forces in nature. It is also important in the study of CP violation, which helps explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe.