Gluons in Protons and Neutrons

Up and down quarks compose all the protons and neutrons in atoms that we see everywhere in our normal lives. They come in six flavors, up, down, strange charm, bottom and top. A proton is composed of three quarks exchanging gluons - a force carrier called gluons. So inside a proton, gluons can, at times, split creating vast quantities of quark anti quark pears. These have actually been identified in debris when protons smashed together at near the speed of light in collidrs like the large hydron colider.