Home > Astrophysics > The Electromagnetic Spectrum

What is the smallest elementary particle?

Answer 1

When it comes to elementary particles the concept of size is not defined.

The dimensions of elementary particles are not defined, but their charge, spin, mass, energy, momentum, and photon and neutrino counts are known.

Mathematicians and physicists detest infinities. Some believe that asking what the size of an electron is meaningless. Elementary particles are described in terms of wave functions in quantum mechanics. They are frequently thought of as single point particles of zero size. If a particle has zero size and a mass then this implies infinite density.

Fundamentally, elementary particles are not physical solid objects; our understanding of size is limited to abstractions like electromagnetic size.

One thing we do know is the size of a proton is #0.8418*10^-15m#. Although a proton is not an elementary particle as it is composed of quarks and gluons, it is the smallest thing that we can measure the size of.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer 2

Emilia Acosta

The smallest elementary particle is generally considered to be quarks.

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.