What is Fundamental? The Scale of the Atom Scale of the atom.
While an atom is tiny, the nucleus is ten thousand times smaller than the atom and the quarks and electrons are at least ten thousand times smaller than that. We don't know exactly how small quarks and electrons are; they are definitely smaller than 10-18 meters, and they might literally be points, but we do not know. It is also possible that quarks and electrons are not fundamental after all, and will turn out to be made up of other, more fundamental particles. (Oh, will this madness ever end?) |