The answer to the incessant question: what is the smallest particle in the universe that has evolved with humanity?
People once thought that the grain of sand was the building blocks of what we see around us. Then an atom was discovered, and it was considered to be indivisible until it was broken down to reveal protons, neutrons, and electrons inside. They weren't the smallest particles in the universe either, as scientists discovered that protons and neutrons consisted of three quarks each.
So far, scientists have not been able to see any evidence that there is something inside the quarks that will reach the most fundamental layer of matter or the smallest particle in the universe.
And even if quarks and electrons are indivisible, scientists do not know if they are the smallest bits of matter in existence or if the universe contains objects that are even smaller.
The smallest particles of the universe
They have different tastes and sizes, some have an amazing connection, others essentially evaporate each other, many of them have fantastic names: quarks consisting of baryons and mesons, neutrons and protons, nucleons, hyperons, mesons, baryons, nucleons, photons, etc.
Higgs boson
The Higgs boson, a particle so important to science that it is called a "particle of God". It is believed to determine the mass of all others. The element was first theorized in 1964 when scientists wondered why some particles were more massive than others.
The Higgs boson is linked to the so-called Higgs field, which is believed to fill the universe. The two elements (the Higgs field quantum and Higgs boson) are responsible for giving the mass to others. Named after the Scottish scientist Peter Higgs. With the help of the Hadron Collider, the existence of the Bozon Higgs was officially confirmed on March 14, 2013.
Many scientists claim that the Higgs mechanism solved the missing part of the puzzle to complete the existing "standard model" of physics, which describes the known particles.
The Higgs boson has fundamentally determined the mass of everything that exists in the universe.
Quarks
Quarks (delusional in translation) building blocks of protons and neutrons. They are never alone, only in groups. Apparently, the force that binds quarks together increases with distance, so the further away, the harder it will be to separate them. Therefore, free quarks never exist in nature.
Quarks of fundamental particles are non-structural, point size about 10-16 cm.
For example, protons and neutrons consist of three quarks, with protons containing two identical quarks, while neutrons have two different ones.
Supersymmetry
It is known that the fundamental "bricks" of matter of fermions are quarks and leptons, and the keepers of the force of bosons are photons, gluons. The theory of supersymmetry suggests that fermions and bosons can transform into each other.
The predicted theory states that for every known particle there is a related article that we have not yet discovered. For example, for an electron it is selecron, quark is squark, the photon is photon is photon is photon is photon is photon is photon is photon is photon is a photon, and Higgs is a Higgsino.
Why don't we see this supersymmetry in the Universe now? Scientists believe that they are much heavier than their usual related particles and the heavier, the shorter their service life. In fact, they begin to disintegrate as soon as they arise. Creating supersymmetry requires a very large amount of energy that only existed shortly after a large explosion and can probably be created in large accelerators as a large hadron collider.
As to why symmetry has arisen, physicists suggest that symmetry may have been broken in some hidden sector of the universe that we cannot see or touch, but can only feel gravitational.
Neutrino
Neutrino light subatomic particles that whistle everywhere at close light speed. In fact, trillions of neutrinos flow through your body at any time, although they rarely interact with normal matter.
Some neutrinos come from the sun, while others come from cosmic rays interacting with Earth's atmosphere and astronomical sources, such as exploding stars on the Milky Way and other distant galaxies.
Antimatter
It is believed that all normal particles have antimatter with the same mass but opposite charge. When matter and antimatter meet, they destroy each other. For example, a proton antimatter particle is an antiproton, while an electron antimatter partner is called a positron. The antimatter is one of the most expensive substances in the world that humans have been able to identify.
Gravitons
In quantum mechanics, all fundamental forces are transmitted by particles. For example, light consists of mess-free particles called photons, which carry electromagnetic forces. Similarly, the graviton is a theoretical particle that carries the force of gravity. Scientists have yet to discover gravitons that are difficult to find because they interact so little with matter.
Threads of energy
In experiments, tiny particles such as quarks and electrons act as single points of matter without spatial distribution. But point objects complicate the laws of physics. Because one cannot come infinitely close to a point, because the acting forces can become infinitely large.
An idea called superstring theory can solve this problem. The theory argues that all particles, instead of being dotted, are actually small threads of energy. That is, all the objects of our world consist of vibrating threads and energy membranes. Nothing can be infinitely close to the thread, because one part will always be a little closer than the other. This "loophole" seems to solve some of the problems of infinity, making the idea attractive to physicists. However, scientists still have no experimental evidence that string theory is correct.
Another way to solve a point problem is to say that space itself is not continuous and smooth, but actually consists of discrete pixels or grains, sometimes called the space-time structure. In this case, two particles will not be able to approach each other infinitely, because they should always be separated by the minimum grain size of space.
Blackhole point
Another contender for the title of the smallest particle in the Universe is the singularity (the only point) in the center of the black hole. Black holes are formed when a substance condenses in a sufficiently small space that captures gravity, forcing the substance to be drawn in, eventually condensing into a single point of infinite density. At least according to the current laws of physics.
But most experts do not consider black holes to be really infinitely dense. They believe that this infinity is the result of an internal conflict between two operating theories - the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. They suggest that when the theory of quantum gravity can be formulated, the true nature of black holes will be revealed.
Planck's length
The threads of energy and even the smallest particle in the universe can be as big as the "length of the bar".
The length of a strip makes 1,6 x 10-35 meters (number 16 before which 34 zeroes and a decimal point) - it is not clear small scale which is connected with various aspects of physics.
Planck's length - "natural unit" of length measurement which has been offered by German physicist Max Planck.
The Planck length is too short for any instrument to measure, but it is also considered to be the theoretical limit of the shortest measurable length. According to the principle of uncertainty, no instrument should ever be able to measure anything smaller, because in this range the Universe is both probabilistic and uncertain.
This scale is also considered to be the dividing line between general relativity theory and quantum mechanics.
Planck's length corresponds to the distance where the gravitational field is so strong that it can begin to make black holes out of the field's energy.
Obviously now, the smallest particle in the universe is about the size of a bar: 1.6-10-35 meters
Conclusions
From the school bench, it was known that the smallest particle in the Universe electron has a negative charge and a very small mass equal to 9.109 x 10 - 31 kg, and the classic radius of the electron is 2.82 x 10-15 m.
However, physicists already operate with the smallest particles in the Universe of Planck size, which is about 1.6 x 10-35 meters.