The smallest particle in the universe. The smallest things in the world

In physics, elementary particles were physical objects on the scale of the atomic nucleus that cannot be divided into their component parts. However, today, scientists have managed to split some of them. Physics studies the structure and properties of these smallest objects elementary particles.

ABOUT smallest particles, making up all matter, was known in ancient times. However, the founders of the so-called “atomism” are considered to be the philosopher Ancient Greece Leucippus and his more famous student, Democritus. It is assumed that the latter coined the term “atom”. From the ancient Greek “atomos” is translated as “indivisible”, which determines the views of ancient philosophers.

Later it became known that the atom can still be divided into two physical objects - the nucleus and the electron. The latter subsequently became the first elementary particle, when in 1897 the Englishman Joseph Thomson conducted an experiment with cathode rays and discovered that they were a stream of identical particles with the same mass and charge.

In parallel with Thomson's work, Henri Becquerel, who studies X-ray radiation, conducts experiments with uranium and discovers new look radiation. In 1898, a French couple of physicists, Marie and Pierre Curie, studied various radioactive substances, discovering the same radioactive radiation. It will later be determined that it consists of alpha (2 protons and 2 neutrons) and beta particles (electrons), and Becquerel and Curie will receive Nobel Prize. While conducting her research with elements such as uranium, radium and polonium, Marie Sklodowska-Curie did not take any safety measures, including not even using gloves. As a result, in 1934 she was overtaken by leukemia. In memory of the achievements of the great scientist, the element discovered by the Curie couple, polonium, was named in honor of Mary’s homeland - Polonia, from Latin - Poland.

Photo from the V Solvay Congress 1927. Try to find all the scientists from this article in this photo.

Since 1905, Albert Einstein has devoted his publications to the imperfection of the wave theory of light, the postulates of which were at odds with the results of experiments. Which subsequently led the outstanding physicist to the idea of ​​a “light quantum” - a portion of light. Later, in 1926, it was named “photon,” translated from the Greek “phos” (“light”), by the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis.

In 1913, Ernest Rutherford, a British physicist, based on the results of experiments already carried out at that time, noted that the masses of many nuclei chemical elements are multiples of the mass of the hydrogen nucleus. Therefore, he assumed that the hydrogen nucleus is a component of the nuclei of other elements. In his experiment, Rutherford irradiated a nitrogen atom with alpha particles, which as a result emitted a certain particle, named by Ernest as a “proton”, from the other Greek “protos” (first, main). Later it was experimentally confirmed that the proton is a hydrogen nucleus.

Obviously, the proton is not the only one component nuclei of chemical elements. This idea is led by the fact that two protons in the nucleus would repel each other, and the atom would instantly disintegrate. Therefore, Rutherford hypothesized the presence of another particle, which has a mass equal to the mass of a proton, but is uncharged. Some experiments of scientists on the interaction of radioactive and lighter elements led them to the discovery of another new radiation. In 1932, James Chadwick determined that it consists of those very neutral particles that he called neutrons.

Thus, the most famous particles were discovered: photon, electron, proton and neutron.

Further, the discovery of new subnuclear objects became an increasingly frequent event, and at the moment about 350 particles are known, which are generally considered “elementary”. Those of them that have not yet been split are considered structureless and are called “fundamental.”

What is spin?

Before moving forward with further innovations in the field of physics, the characteristics of all particles must be determined. The most well-known, apart from mass and electric charge, is also spin. This quantity is otherwise called “intrinsic angular momentum” and is in no way related to the movement of the subnuclear object as a whole. Scientists were able to detect particles with spin 0, ½, 1, 3/2 and 2. To visualize, albeit simplified, spin as a property of an object, consider the following example.

Let an object have a spin equal to 1. Then such an object, when rotated 360 degrees, will return to its original position. On a plane, this object can be a pencil, which, after a 360-degree turn, will end up in its original position. In the case of zero spin, no matter how the object rotates, it will always look the same, for example, a single-color ball.

For a ½ spin, you will need an object that retains its appearance when rotated 180 degrees. It can be the same pencil, only sharpened symmetrically on both sides. A spin of 2 will require the shape to be maintained when rotated 720 degrees, and a spin of 3/2 will require 540.

This characteristic is very great value for particle physics.

Standard Model of Particles and Interactions

Having an impressive set of micro-objects that make up the world around us, scientists decided to structure them, and thus a well-known theoretical structure called the “Standard Model” was formed. She describes three interactions and 61 particles using 17 fundamental ones, some of which she predicted long before the discovery.

The three interactions are:

• Electromagnetic. It occurs between electrically charged particles. In a simple case, known from school, oppositely charged objects attract, and similarly charged objects repel. This happens through the so-called carrier of electromagnetic interaction - the photon.
• Strong, otherwise known as nuclear interaction. As the name implies, its action extends to objects of the order of the atomic nucleus; it is responsible for the attraction of protons, neutrons and other particles also consisting of quarks. The strong interaction is carried by gluons.
• Weak. Effective at distances a thousand smaller than the size of the core. Leptons and quarks, as well as their antiparticles, take part in this interaction. Moreover, in the case of weak interaction, they can transform into each other. The carriers are the W+, W− and Z0 bosons.

So the Standard Model was formed as follows. It includes six quarks, from which all hadrons (particles subject to strong interaction) are composed:

• Upper(u);
• Enchanted (c);
• true(t);
• Lower (d);
• Strange(s);
• Adorable (b).

It is clear that physicists have plenty of epithets. The other 6 particles are leptons. These are fundamental particles with spin ½ that do not participate in the strong interaction.

• Electron;
• Electron neutrino;
• Muon;
• Muon neutrino;
• Tau lepton;
• Tau neutrino.

And the third group of the Standard Model are gauge bosons, which have a spin equal to 1 and are represented as carriers of interactions:

• Gluon – strong;
• Photon – electromagnetic;
• Z-boson - weak;
• The W boson is weak.

These also include the recently discovered spin-0 particle, which, simply put, imparts inert mass to all other subnuclear objects.

As a result, according to the Standard Model, our world looks like this: all matter consists of 6 quarks, forming hadrons, and 6 leptons; all these particles can participate in three interactions, the carriers of which are gauge bosons.

Disadvantages of the Standard Model

However, even before the discovery of the Higgs boson, the last particle predicted by the Standard Model, scientists had gone beyond its limits. A striking example there is a so-called “gravitational interaction”, which is on par with others today. Presumably, its carrier is a particle with spin 2, which has no mass, and which physicists have not yet been able to detect - the “graviton”.

Moreover, the Standard Model describes 61 particles, and today more than 350 particles are already known to humanity. This means that the work of theoretical physicists is not over.

Particle classification

To make their life easier, physicists have grouped all particles depending on their structural features and other characteristics. Classification is based on the following criteria:

• Life time.
  1. Stable. These include proton and antiproton, electron and positron, photon, and graviton. The existence of stable particles is not limited by time, as long as they are in free state, i.e. don't interact with anything.
  2. Unstable. All other particles after some time disintegrate into their component parts, which is why they are called unstable. For example, a muon lives only 2.2 microseconds, and a proton - 2.9 10 * 29 years, after which it can decay into a positron and a neutral pion.
• Weight.
  1. Massless elementary particles, of which there are only three: photon, gluon and graviton.
  2. Massive particles are all the rest.
• Spin meaning.
  1. Whole spin, incl. zero, have particles called bosons.
  2. Particles with half-integer spin are fermions.
• Participation in interactions.
  1. Hadrons (structural particles) are subnuclear objects that take part in all four types of interactions. It was mentioned earlier that they are composed of quarks. Hadrons are divided into two subtypes: mesons (integer spin, bosons) and baryons (half-integer spin, fermions).
  2. Fundamental (structureless particles). These include leptons, quarks and gauge bosons (read earlier - “Standard Model..”).

Having familiarized yourself with the classification of all particles, you can, for example, accurately identify some of them. So the neutron is a fermion, a hadron, or rather a baryon, and a nucleon, that is, it has a half-integer spin, consists of quarks and participates in 4 interactions. Nucleon is common name for protons and neutrons.

• It is interesting that opponents of the atomism of Democritus, who predicted the existence of atoms, stated that any substance in the world is divided indefinitely. To some extent, they may turn out to be right, since scientists have already managed to divide the atom into a nucleus and an electron, the nucleus into a proton and a neutron, and these, in turn, into quarks.
• Democritus assumed that atoms have a clear geometric shape, and therefore “sharp” atoms of fire burn, rough atoms solids are firmly held together by their protrusions, and smooth water atoms slip during interaction, otherwise they flow.
• Joseph Thomson compiled his own model of the atom, which he saw as a positively charged body into which electrons seemed to be “stuck.” His model was called the “Plum pudding model.”
• Quarks got their name thanks to the American physicist Murray Gell-Mann. The scientist wanted to use a word similar to the sound of a duck quack (kwork). But in James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake he encountered the word “quark” in the line “Three quarks for Mr. Mark!”, the meaning of which is not precisely defined and it is possible that Joyce used it simply for rhyme. Murray decided to call the particles this word, since at that time only three quarks were known.
• Although photons, particles of light, are massless, near a black hole they appear to change their trajectory as they are attracted to it by gravitational forces. In fact, a supermassive body bends space-time, which is why any particles, including those without mass, change their trajectory towards the black hole (see).
• The Large Hadron Collider is “hadronic” precisely because it collides two directed beams of hadrons, particles with dimensions on the order of an atomic nucleus that participate in all interactions.

Neutrinos, an incredibly tiny particle in the universe, have fascinated scientists for nearly a century. More Nobel Prizes have been awarded for research on neutrinos than for work on any other particle, and huge facilities are being built to study it with the budget of small states. Alexander Nozik, a senior researcher at the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a teacher at MIPT and a participant in the “Troitsk nu-mass” experiment to search for the neutrino mass, tells how to study it, but most importantly, how to catch it in the first place.

The Mystery of Stolen Energy

The history of neutrino research can be read like a fascinating detective story. This particle has tested the deductive abilities of scientists more than once: not every riddle could be solved immediately, and some have not yet been solved. Let's start with the history of the discovery. Radioactive decays various kinds began to be studied back in late XIX century, and it is not surprising that in the 1920s, scientists had in their arsenal instruments not only to record the decay itself, but also to measure the energy of the escaping particles, albeit not particularly accurate by today's standards. As the accuracy of the instruments increased, so did the joy of scientists and the bewilderment associated, among other things, with beta decay, in which an electron flies out of a radioactive nucleus, and the nucleus itself changes its charge. This decay is called two-particle, since it produces two particles - a new nucleus and an electron. Any high school student will explain that it is possible to accurately determine the energy and momentum of fragments in such a decay using conservation laws and knowing the masses of these fragments. In other words, the energy of, for example, an electron will always be the same in any decay of the nucleus of a certain element. In practice, a completely different picture was observed. The electron energy not only was not fixed, but was also spread out into a continuous spectrum down to zero, which baffled scientists. This can only happen if someone steals energy from beta decay. But there seems to be no one to steal it.

Over time, the instruments became more and more accurate, and soon the possibility of attributing such an anomaly to an equipment error disappeared. Thus a mystery arose. In search of its solution, scientists have expressed various, even completely absurd by today's standards, assumptions. Niels Bohr himself, for example, made a serious statement that conservation laws do not apply in the world of elementary particles. Wolfgang Pauli saved the day in 1930. He was unable to attend the physics conference in Tübingen and, unable to participate remotely, sent a letter which he asked to be read. Here are excerpts from it:

“Dear radioactive ladies and gentlemen. I ask you to listen with attention at the most convenient moment to the messenger who delivered this letter. He will tell you that I have found an excellent remedy for the law of conservation and correct statistics. It lies in the possibility of the existence of electrically neutral particles... The continuity of the B-spectrum will become clear if we assume that during B-decay, such a “neutron” is emitted along with each electron, and the sum of the energies of the “neutron” and electron is constant...”

At the end of the letter there were the following lines:

“If you don't take risks, you won't win. The gravity of the situation when considering the continuous B-spectrum becomes especially clear after the words of Prof. Debye said to me with regret: “Oh, it’s better not to think of all this ... as new taxes.” Therefore, it is necessary to seriously discuss each path to salvation. So, dear radioactive people, put this to the test and judge.”

Later, Pauli himself expressed fears that, although his idea saved the physics of the microworld, the new particle would never be discovered experimentally. They say that he even argued with his colleagues that if the particle existed, it would not be possible to detect it during their lifetime. Over the next few years, Enrico Fermi developed a theory of beta decay involving a particle he called the neutrino, which agreed brilliantly with experiment. After this, no one had any doubt that the hypothetical particle actually existed. In 1956, two years before Pauli's death, neutrinos were experimentally discovered in reverse beta decay by the team of Frederick Reines and Clyde Cowan (Reines received the Nobel Prize for this).

The Case of the Missing Solar Neutrinos

As soon as it became clear that neutrinos, although complex, could still be detected, scientists began trying to catch neutrinos extraterrestrial origin. Their most obvious source is the Sun. It constantly happens nuclear reactions, and you can calculate that every square centimeter earth's surface About 90 billion solar neutrinos pass through every second.

At that moment the most effective method catching solar neutrinos was a radiochemical method. Its essence is this: a solar neutrino arrives on Earth, interacts with the nucleus; the result is, say, a 37Ar nucleus and an electron (this is exactly the reaction that was used in the experiment of Raymond Davis, for which he was later given the Nobel Prize). After this, by counting the number of argon atoms, we can say how many neutrinos interacted in the detector volume during the exposure. In practice, of course, everything is not so simple. You must understand that you need to count single argon atoms in a target weighing hundreds of tons. The mass ratio is approximately the same as between the mass of an ant and the mass of the Earth. It was then that it was discovered that ⅔ of solar neutrinos had been stolen (the measured flux was three times less than predicted).

Of course, suspicion first fell on the Sun itself. After all, we can judge his inner life only by indirect signs. It is not known how neutrinos are created on it, and it is even possible that all models of the Sun are wrong. Quite a lot of different hypotheses were discussed, but in the end scientists began to lean toward the idea that it was not the Sun, but the cunning nature of the neutrinos themselves.

A small historical digression: in the period between the experimental discovery of neutrinos and experiments on the study of solar neutrinos, several more occurred interesting discoveries. First, antineutrinos were discovered and it was proven that neutrinos and antineutrinos participate in interactions differently. Moreover, all neutrinos in all interactions are always left-handed (the projection of the spin on the direction of motion is negative), and all antineutrinos are right-handed. Not only is this property observed among all elementary particles only in neutrinos, it also indirectly indicates that our Universe is, in principle, not symmetrical. Secondly, it was discovered that each charged lepton (electron, muon and tau lepton) has its own type, or flavor, of neutrino. Moreover, neutrinos of each type interact only with their lepton.

Let's return to our solar problem. Back in the 50s of the 20th century, it was suggested that the leptonic flavor (a type of neutrino) does not have to be conserved. That is, if an electron neutrino was born in one reaction, then on the way to another reaction the neutrino can change clothes and run as a muon. This could explain the lack of solar neutrinos in radiochemical experiments that are sensitive only to electron neutrinos. This hypothesis was brilliantly confirmed by measurements of the solar neutrino flux in the SNO and Kamiokande large water target scintillation experiments (for which another Nobel Prize was recently awarded). In these experiments, it is no longer inverse beta decay that is being studied, but the neutrino scattering reaction, which can occur not only with electron, but also with muon neutrinos. When, instead of the flux of electron neutrinos, they began to measure the total flux of all types of neutrinos, the results perfectly confirmed the transition of neutrinos from one type to another, or neutrino oscillations.

Assault on the Standard Model

The discovery of neutrino oscillations, having solved one problem, created several new ones. The point is that since the time of Pauli, neutrinos have been considered massless particles like photons, and this suited everyone. Attempts to measure the mass of neutrinos continued, but without much enthusiasm. Oscillations changed everything, since mass, however small, is required for their existence. The discovery of mass in neutrinos, of course, delighted experimenters, but puzzled theorists. First, massive neutrinos do not fit into the Standard Model of particle physics, which scientists have been building since the beginning of the 20th century. Secondly, the same mysterious left-handedness of neutrinos and right-handedness of antineutrinos is well explained only, again, for massless particles. If there is mass, left-handed neutrinos should, with some probability, transform into right-handed ones, that is, into antiparticles, violating the seemingly immutable law of conservation of the lepton number, or even turn into some kind of neutrinos that do not participate in the interaction. Today, such hypothetical particles are commonly called sterile neutrinos.

Neutrino detector "Super Kamiokande" © Kamioka Observatory, ICRR (Institute for Cosmic Ray Research), The University of Tokyo

Of course, the experimental search for the neutrino mass immediately resumed sharply. But the question immediately arose: how to measure the mass of something that cannot be caught? There is only one answer: do not catch neutrinos at all. Today, two directions are most actively being developed - the direct search for the mass of neutrinos in beta decay and the observation of neutrinoless double beta decay. In the first case, the idea is very simple. The nucleus decays with electron and neutrino radiation. It is not possible to catch a neutrino, but it is possible to catch and measure an electron with very high accuracy. The electron spectrum also carries information about the neutrino mass. Such an experiment is one of the most difficult in particle physics, but its undoubted advantage is that it is based on basic principles conservation of energy and momentum and its result depends on little. Currently, the best limit on neutrino mass is about 2 eV. This is 250 thousand times less than that of an electron. That is, the mass itself was not found, but was only limited by the upper frame.

With double beta decay, things are more complicated. If we assume that a neutrino turns into an antineutrino during a spin flip (this model is called after the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana), then a process is possible when two beta decays occur simultaneously in the nucleus, but the neutrinos do not fly out, but are reduced. The probability of such a process is related to the neutrino mass. The upper limits in such experiments are better - 0.2 – 0.4 eV - but depend on the physical model.

The problem of massive neutrinos has not yet been solved. The Higgs theory cannot explain such small masses. It requires significant complication or the use of some more cunning laws according to which neutrinos interact with the rest of the world. Physicists involved in neutrino research are often asked the question: “How can neutrino research help the average person? What financial or other benefit can be derived from this particle? Physicists shrug their shoulders. And they really don't know it. Once upon a time, the study of semiconductor diodes belonged to purely fundamental physics, without any practical application. The difference is that the technologies that are being developed to create modern experiments in neutrino physics are widely used in industry now, so every penny invested in this area pays off fairly quickly. Currently, several experiments are being carried out in the world, the scale of which is comparable to the scale of the Large Hadron Collider; these experiments are aimed exclusively at studying the properties of neutrinos. It is unknown in which of them it will be possible to open a new page in physics, but it will definitely be opened.

Incredible facts

People tend to pay attention to large objects that immediately attract our attention.

On the contrary, small things may go unnoticed, although this does not make them any less important.

Some of them we can see with the naked eye, others only with the help of a microscope, and there are those that can only be imagined theoretically.

Here's a collection of the world's smallest things, ranging from tiny toys, miniature animals and humans to a hypothetical subatomic particle.

The smallest pistol in the world

The smallest revolver in the world SwissMiniGun it looks no bigger than a door key. However, looks can be deceiving, and the pistol, which is only 5.5 cm long and weighs just under 20 grams, can shoot at a speed of 122 m per second. This is enough to kill at close range.

The smallest bodybuilder in the world

According to the Guinness Book of Records Aditya "Romeo" Dev(Aditya “Romeo” Dev) from India was the smallest bodybuilder in the world. At just 84 cm tall and weighing 9 kg, he could lift 1.5 kg dumbbells and spent a lot of time improving his body. Unfortunately, he died in September 2012 due to a ruptured brain aneurysm.

The smallest lizard in the world

Kharaguan sphero ( Sphaerodactylus ariasae) is the smallest reptile in the world. Its length is only 16-18 mm and its weight is 0.2 grams. It lives in the Jaragua National Park in the Dominican Republic.

The smallest car in the world

At 59 kg, the Peel 50 is the smallest production car in the world. About 50 of these cars were produced in the early 1960s, and now only a few models remain. The car has two wheels in front and one in the back, and reaches a speed of 16 km per hour.

The smallest horse in the world

The smallest horse in the world named Einstein born in 2010 in Barnstead, New Hampshire, UK. At birth, she weighed less than a newborn baby (2.7 kg). Her height was 35 cm. Einstein does not suffer from dwarfism, but belongs to the Pinto horse breed.

Smallest country in the world

The Vatican is the smallest country in the world. This is a small state with an area of ​​only 0.44 square meters. km and a population of 836 people who are not permanent residents. The tiny country surrounds St. Peter's Basilica, the spiritual center of Roman Catholics. The Vatican itself is surrounded by Rome and Italy.

The smallest school in the world

Kalou School in Iran has been recognized by UNESCO as the smallest school in the world. In the village where the school is located, only 7 families live, with four children: two boys and two girls, who attend the school.

The smallest teapot in the world

The smallest teapot in the world was created by a famous ceramicist Wu Ruishen(Wu Ruishen) and it weighs only 1.4 grams.

The smallest mobile phone in the world

Modu phone is considered the smallest mobile phone in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. With a thickness of 76 millimeters, it weighs only 39 grams. Its dimensions are 72 mm x 37 mm x 7.8 mm. Despite its tiny size, you can make calls, send SMS messages, play MP3s and take photos.

The smallest prison in the world

Sark Prison in the Channel Islands was built in 1856 and accommodates one cell for two prisoners.

The smallest monkey in the world

Pygmy marmosets, which live in tropical wet forests South America, are considered the tiniest monkeys in the world. The weight of an adult monkey is 110-140 grams, and the length reaches 15 cm. Although they have quite sharp teeth and claws, they are relatively docile and popular as exotic pets.

The smallest post office in the world

The smallest postal service, WSPS (World's Smallest Postal Service) in San Francisco, USA, translates your letters into miniature form, so the recipient will have to read it with a magnifying glass.

The smallest frog in the world

frog species Paedophryne amauensis with a length of 7.7 millimeters, it lives only in Papua New Guinea, and is the tiniest frog and smallest vertebrate in the world.

The smallest house in the world

The smallest house in the world of an American company Tumbleweed by architect Jay Shafer is smaller than some people's toilets. Although this house is only 9 square meters. meters looks tiny, it holds everything you need: workplace, bedroom, bathroom with shower and toilet.

The smallest dog in the world

In terms of height, the smallest dog in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records is the dog Boo Boo– Chihuahua height 10.16 cm and weight 900 grams. She lives in Kentucky, USA.

In addition, it claims to be the smallest dog in the world. Maisie- a terrier from Poland with a height of only 7 cm and a length of 12 cm.

The smallest park in the world

Mill Ends Park in the city of Portland, Oregon, USA - this is the smallest park in the world with a diameter of only 60 cm. In a small circle located at the intersection of roads there is a butterfly pool, a small Ferris wheel and miniature statues.

The smallest fish in the world

Fish species Paedocypris progenetica from the carp family, found in peat bogs, grows to only 7.9 millimeters in length.

The smallest man in the world

72 year old Nepalese man Chandra Bahadur Dangi(Chandra Bahadur Dangi) with a height of 54.6 cm was recognized as the shortest person and man in the world.

The smallest woman in the world

The shortest woman in the world is Yoti Amge(Jyoti Amge) from India. On her 18th birthday, the girl, with a height of 62.8 cm, became the smallest woman in the world.

Smallest police station

This small phone booth in Carabella, Florida, USA is considered the smallest working police station.

The smallest baby in the world

In 2004 Rumaisa Rahman(Rumaisa Rahman) became the smallest newborn child. She was born at 25 weeks and weighed only 244 grams and was 24 cm tall. Her twin sister Hiba weighed almost twice as much - 566 grams and was 30 cm tall. Their mother suffered from severe pre-eclampsia, which can lead to giving birth to smaller children.

The smallest sculptures in the world

British sculptor Ullard Wigan(Willard Wigan), who suffered from dyslexia, did not excel academically and found solace in creating miniature works of art that are invisible to the naked eye. His sculptures are placed in the eye of a needle, reaching dimensions of 0.05 mm. His recent works, which are called nothing less than “the eighth wonder of the world,” do not exceed the size of a human blood cell.

The smallest teddy bear in the world

Mini Pooh Bear created by a German sculptor Bettina Kaminski(Bettina Kaminski) became the tiniest hand-sewn teddy bear with movable legs measuring just 5 mm.

The smallest bacterium

The smallest virus

Although there is still debate among scientists about what is considered “living” and what is not, most biologists do not classify viruses as living organisms because they cannot reproduce and are not capable of exchange outside the cell. However, a virus can be smaller than any living organism, including bacteria. The smallest single-stranded DNA virus is porcine cirocovirus ( Porcine circovirus). The diameter of its shell is only 17 nanometers.

The smallest objects visible to the naked eye

The smallest object visible to the naked eye is 1 millimeter in size. This means that when necessary conditions you will be able to see a common amoeba, a slipper ciliate and even a human egg.

The smallest particle in the Universe

Over the last century, science has made huge strides towards understanding the vastness of the Universe and its microscopic building materials. However, when it comes to the smallest observable particle in the Universe, some difficulties arise.

At one time, the smallest particle was considered to be an atom. Then scientists discovered the proton, neutron and electron. Now we know that by smashing particles together (as in the Large Hadron Collider), they can be broken down into even more particles, such as quarks, leptons and even antimatter. The problem is only in determining what is less.

But at the quantum level, size becomes irrelevant, since the laws of physics to which we are accustomed do not apply. So some particles have no mass, some have negative mass. The solution to this question is the same as dividing by zero, that is, it is impossible.

The smallest hypothetical object in the Universe

Considering what was said above that the concept of size is inapplicable at the quantum level, we can turn to the well-known string theory in physics.

Although this is a rather controversial theory, it suggests that subatomic particles are composed of vibrating strings, which interact to create things like mass and energy. And although there are no such strings physical parameters, man's tendency to justify everything leads us to the conclusion that these are the smallest objects in the Universe.

The smallest particle of sugar is a sugar molecule. Their structure is such that sugar tastes sweet. And the structure of water molecules is such that pure water does not seem sweet.

4. Molecules are made up of atoms

And a hydrogen molecule will be the smallest particle of the substance hydrogen. The smallest particles of atoms are the elementary particles: electrons, protons and neutrons.

All known substance on Earth and beyond it consists of chemical elements. Total quantity naturally occurring elements – 94. With normal temperature 2 of them are in the liquid state, 11 are in the gaseous state and 81 (including 72 metals) are in the solid state. The so-called "fourth state of matter" is plasma, a state in which negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions are in constant movement. The grinding limit is solid helium, which, as was established back in 1964, should be a monoatomic powder. TCDD, or 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, discovered in 1872, is lethal at a concentration of 3.1 × 10–9 mol/kg, which is 150 thousand times stronger than a similar dose of cyanide.

Matter consists of individual particles. Molecules different substances are different. 2 oxygen atoms. These are polymer molecules.

Just about the complex: the mystery of the smallest particle in the Universe, or how to catch a neutrino

The Standard Model of particle physics is a theory that describes the properties and interactions of elementary particles. All quarks also have electric charge, a multiple of 1/3 of the elementary charge. Their antiparticles are antileptons (the antiparticle of an electron is called a positron historical reasons). Hyperons, such as Λ, Σ, Ξ, and Ω particles, contain one or more s quarks, decay quickly, and are heavier than nucleons. Molecules are the smallest particles of a substance that still retain its chemical properties.

What financial or other benefit can be derived from this particle? Physicists shrug their shoulders. And they really don't know it. Once upon a time, the study of semiconductor diodes was purely fundamental physics, without any practical application.

The Higgs boson is a particle that is so important to science that it has been nicknamed the “God particle.” It is this that, as scientists believe, gives mass to all other particles. These particles begin to break down as soon as they are born. Creating a particle requires enormous amounts of energy, such as the one produced Big Bang. Regarding larger size and the weights of the superpartners, scientists believe that the symmetry has been broken in a hidden sector of the universe that cannot be seen or found. For example, light is made up of particles with zero mass called photons, which carry an electromagnetic force. Likewise, gravitons are theoretical particles that carry the force of gravity. Scientists are still trying to find gravitons, but this is very difficult, since these particles interact very weakly with matter.

This world is strange: some people strive to create something monumental and gigantic in order to become famous throughout the world and go down in history, while others create minimalist copies of ordinary things and amaze the world with them no less. This review contains the smallest objects that exist in the world and at the same time are no less functional than their full-size counterparts.

1. SwissMiniGun pistol

The SwissMiniGun is no bigger than a regular wrench, but it is capable of firing tiny bullets that fly out of the barrel at speeds in excess of 430 km/h. This is more than enough to kill a person at close range.

2. Peel 50 car

Weighing just 69kg, the Peel 50 is the smallest car ever approved for road use. This three-wheeled Pepelats could reach a speed of 16 km/h.

3. Kalou School

UNESCO recognized Iran's Kalou School as the smallest in the world. There are only 3 students and former soldier Abdul-Muhammad Sherani, who now works as a teacher.

4. Teapot weighing 1.4 grams

It was created by ceramic master Wu Ruishen. Although this teapot weighs only 1.4 grams and fits on your fingertip, you can brew tea in it.

5. Sark Prison

Sark Prison was built in the Channel Islands in 1856. There was room for only 2 prisoners, who were in very cramped conditions.

6. Tumbleweed

This house was called "Perakati Field" (Tumbleweed). It was built by Jay Schafer from San Francisco. Although the house is smaller than some people's closets (it's only 9 square meters), it has a work space, a bedroom and a bathroom with shower and toilet.

7. Mills End Park

Mills End Park in Portland is the smallest park in the world. Its diameter is only... 60 centimeters. At the same time, the park has a swimming pool for butterflies, a miniature Ferris wheel and tiny statues.

8. Edward Niño Hernandez

Edward Niño Hernandez from Colombia is only 68 centimeters tall. The Guinness Book of Records recognized him as the smallest man in the world.

9. Police Station in a Phone Booth

In essence, it is no bigger than a telephone booth. But it was actually a functioning police station in Carabella, Florida.

10. Sculptures by Willard Wigan

British sculptor Willard Wigan, who suffered from dyslexia and poor school performance, found solace in creating miniature works of art. His sculptures are barely visible to the naked eye.

11. Mycoplasma Genitalium bacterium

12. Porcine circovirus

Although there is still debate about what is considered "living" and what is not, most biologists do not classify a virus as a living organism due to the fact that it cannot reproduce or does not have metabolism. A virus, however, can be much smaller than any living organism, including bacteria. The smallest is a single-stranded DNA virus called porcine circovirus. Its size is only 17 nanometers.

13. Amoeba

The smallest object visible to the naked eye is approximately 1 millimeter in size. This means that under certain conditions a person can see an amoeba, a slipper ciliate, and even a human egg.

14. Quarks, leptons and antimatter...

Over the past century, scientists have achieved great success in understanding the vastness of space and the microscopic “building blocks” of which it is composed. When it came to figuring out what the smallest observable particle in the universe was, people encountered some difficulties. At one point they thought it was an atom. Scientists then discovered a proton, a neutron and an electron.

But it didn't end there. Today, everyone knows that when you smash these particles into each other in places like the Large Hadron Collider, they can be broken down into even smaller particles like quarks, leptons, and even antimatter. The problem is that it is impossible to determine what is smallest, since size becomes irrelevant at the quantum level, and all the usual rules of physics do not apply (some particles have no mass, while others even have negative mass).

15. Vibrating strings of subatomic particles

Considering what was said above regarding the concept of size having no meaning at the quantum level, one might think of string theory. This is a slightly controversial theory that suggests that all subatomic particles are made of vibrating strings that interact to create things like mass and energy. Thus, since these strings technically do not have physical size, it can be argued that they are in some sense the “smallest” objects in the Universe.