what is the smallest particles that all particles are made of

[Lekgolo555]

What is the smallest particle that all other particles are made of?

[m4rc]

Particles are the smallest things that have been observed.

 

Some particles like the electrons, muons, and neutrinos are considered elementary (not made up of smaller particles).

 

Other particles like the proton, neutron and others are thought to be made up of quarks. No quarks have been observed in isolation, but their existence is expected.

 

Even more theoretical is the concept of vibrating strings. The main concept behind string theory is that the everything is made of vibrating strings of some kind.

[fredrik]

If you were looking for a number...

 

In the "quantum gravity domain" for which there is not yet a satisfactory theory, there is also a scale (planck scale) below which the question "beeing made of" is thought to no longer make sense. This is the order of 10^-35 m.

 

The basic "idea" is that the energy of radiation needed to probe such small distances, is enough to create a microscopic black hole - which would certainly blur things becase to probe the interior of a black is not thought to make sense. It is not possible to distinguish or define the notion of points or structure, inside a black hole, thus the supposed limit of resolution regardless of the amount of energy supplied.

 

This is also part of the motivation for some theories that suggest that any finite volume of spacetime is discrete. Because distances far less than the planck distances apart is thought to be effectively indistinguishable to us, and thus to any other object in the universe interacting there "effectively discrete". Some theoretical speculations also exists that elementary particles can be identified with some of these small quanta. All of these is just speculations though. Some people has toyed with the idea that an electron might be a small black hole wich charge and spin.

 

/Fredrik

[ErlyRisa]

E field...

 

sadly we still think that Particles are the be all to end all...

 

everytime a new property of another split in a particle is found... we get

 

another peice of mass.

 

Einstein knew better... he knew that the fundamental construct for the universe is just one peice of information.

 

it's E.

[foodchain]

E field...

 

sadly we still think that Particles are the be all to end all...

 

everytime a new property of another split in a particle is found... we get

 

another peice of mass.

 

Einstein knew better... he knew that the fundamental construct for the universe is just one peice of information.

 

it's E.

 

Not to play like I know what I am talking about, but simply saying its all energy, I think you could also say its all matter. I know its a pointless argument, as I have no points to make to back the claim up, but really, what’s the difference in saying its all energy, or that its all matter. Its like saying it will probably happen, well that means it will probably not happen also, but then again its a common social convention and not really the use of the word me thinks.

 

simply if it was all energy, whatever brought it together into matter form, on that note though everything being particle or matter, would simply imply that such can evolve into different forms in an ocean of such, like space. Its purely a speculation, but I just think there is no real difference when saying its all energy or its all matter, being the two depend on one another. I don’t know of any real organized systems of pure energy though, such as fire in which I think its pattern is somewhat indicative of entropy.

[ErlyRisa]

not to confuse anyone any more...

 

but E (fundamental energy) is Electricity!

 

...What created light...

 

Use your thought experiments.... imagine two objects without space.

 

What defines two objects? ... what defines space?

 

...answer this and u may find that u may not want it answered.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Err... stop hijacking threads with your strange questions, please.

[Severian]

The matter all around us is make up of up and down quarks and electrons.

 

But the smallest particle (in terms of spacial spread of its wavefunction) is the top quark.