What's smaller than an atom? (Sub-Atomic?)

[nasgath]

Hi there! I don't know if this is the right place but I wanted to know and learn from someone the difference between an atom and a sub-atom. H2O's molecule consists of 1 oxygen atom and 2 hydrogen atoms, right, but what do people mean when they mention "at subatomic levels"? Are sub-atoms what makes an atom up? Just how small can we go in terms of matter to experiment with?

Thanks in advance. - T

 

[Borek]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleus_(atomic_structure )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark

 

[nasgath]

Borek, if you cannot be bothered to give me an explanation of your own rather than linking me Wiki articles, then please, disregard me at all. I don't need that kind of help. Thank you.

 

[firavia]

nasgath , subatomic level is everything that is concerned about the elementary particles that constitute an atom , for example , quarks that constitute the proton in th nucleus and the gluons as the force that attract the quarks to each other in a certain way that prevent the protons from being repelled eventhough the proton are all positive .

so in general it is something related to elementary physics, it is a huge domain.

 

[nasgath]

So those particles/quarks are clearly smaller than atoms? Is there anything smaller? Thanks.

 

[firavia]

According to einestein theory of general relativity the simplest form is energy where matter or mass is somehow condensed energy and there are some theories that try to explain how small we can go like string theory but it is not proven yet I guess.

 

[firavia]

can I ask you though why you're asking ?

 

[Hurkyl]

Borek, if you cannot be bothered to give me an explanation of your own rather than linking me Wiki articles, then please, disregard me at all. I don't need that kind of help. Thank you.

Er, the whole point of reference materials is to, y'know, reference them.

 

[firavia]

yes quraks are smaller thn atom they are even smaller thn the proton itself that is one of the element that form the atom

 

[nasgath]

can I ask you though why you're asking ?

Because I'm fascinated by astronomy/cosmology/physics. I think I'm trying to understand how the world works. Just like an image, it's full of pixels, every pixel has one single color, nothing more, nothing less, and so I guess I'm trying to understand the "pixels" of our existence. Lame example though...

 

[Borek]

Borek, if you cannot be bothered to give me an explanation of your own rather than linking me Wiki articles, then please, disregard me at all. I don't need that kind of help. Thank you.

You obviously didn't know what to look for, so I pointed you in the right direction, to help you learn something on your own. Seems like that was a wasted effort.

 

[nasgath]

You obviously didn't know what to look for, so I pointed you in the right direction, to help you learn something on your own. Seems like that was a wasted effort.

I appreciate your effort, but it's different when you communicate with someone to learn something and when you read an article. On articles, you have massive information, I am not familiar with every single term on the article, but if I talk to you, I can ask for specific information that I need, and thus, way more efficient method of helping. Cheers dude.

 

[Borek]

I am not familiar with every single term on the article, but if I talk to you, I can ask for specific information that I need, and thus, way more efficient method of helping. Cheers dude.

Read these articles first, ask questions if you don't understand something. That's the best way. It doesn't make sense for us to write an article if there is already a good one ready.

 

[nasgath]

Read these articles first, ask questions if you don't understand something. That's the best way. It doesn't make sense for us to write an article if there is already a good one ready.

No worries, other people like firavia are helping me enough, he/she didn't write an article to help me. And yes, I read the articles long before you referred them to me, that's why I came here. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot mate. Thanks.

 

[ZealScience]

So many there are, considering the elementary particles (to the limit of technology we have ) there are so many groups, like nutrinos, leptons, quarks (currently only these three races, twelve elements). Apart from them, larger ones are baryons (like protons nutrons), muons (not necessarily heavier).

I personally recommend starting from elementary ones. Baryons, muons are way too complex, there are too much too learn in quantum mechanics, like gluons, photons. Quantum mechanics atually has studied them well, mostly Quantum Field Theory (e.g. Quantum Chromodynamics). To learn more about them quantum is adequate.

According to einestein theory of general relativity the simplest form is energy where matter or mass is somehow condensed energy and there are some theories that try to explain how small we can go like string theory but it is not proven yet I guess.

In my personal view E=mc^2 doesn't necessarily mean that energy condense into matter, but if there is energy there must be matter (even photons have mass but not inertial mass). i.e. the great mass of those baryons inside simply indicate that gluons grant them a lot of energy (gluons are "heavier" than quark! ). But inertial mass of elementary particles is from the Higgs Field Hypothesis, which also comes to the string theory.

The string theory is very ambitious that everything is made of only that type of string.