• Question: what is the smallest particle in the universe

    Asked by ameer to Nicholas on 11 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Nicholas Pearce

      Nicholas Pearce answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      Hey Ameer,

      The smallest particle is probably the electron neutrino. Neutrinos are everywhere. There are 65 000 000 000 neutrinos that pass through your thumb every second! but they do nothing, so can’t hurt you.

      The particles that make up light are called photons and they have no mass – they never weigh anything. We can measure the lengths of photons though, and the smallest ones are 0.000000000001 m long, smaller than atoms, but bigger than protons.

      Try using this map to zoom in and out to see just how tiny some things are:
      http://htwins.net/scale2/

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