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by clyde crockett on October 7th, 2005

clyde crockett

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What is the smallest subatomic particle?

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  • by James Beatty on October 27th, 2005

    James Beatty

    So we're all on the same page here, "size" doesn't really exist in the way we think of it on a quantum level. There is *no* experimentally verified radius for the electron or any of the quarks. As best we can tell, they are point particles, occupying no physical space. Neutrons and protons have "size", i.e. seem to occupy physical space, because they are quarks held together by the strong force, and so their "size" is simply the range at which the strong force interactions between the quarks dominate. So, the smallest subatomic particle doesn't exist, as subatomic particles don't really have a size.

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    • Nice answer - max pts. This is what I've read -- that quarks and electrons are empirically point-like. Untested string theories, however, put a lower limit on particle size on the order of the Planck length, don't they?

      xprofessor

      by xprofessor on April 22nd, 2008

    • I think the Uncertainty Principle puts a lower limit of the Planck length on anything. But that is so far below the limit of what we can detect so far that it is not relevant at the moment, not a long time in the future.

      Im Alec has abandoned this account

      by Im Alec has abandoned this account on November 17th, 2009

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