• Question: what is the smallest thing in the world

    Asked by to Elizabeth, Claire on 14 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Elizabeth Ratcliffe

      Elizabeth Ratcliffe answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      Hi iggypog, great question…I’m not strong on physics but I’ll have a go as its so interesting.
      Does anyone know the answer yet?, when we find something small like an atom science progresses to the point we can split the atom and find it is made up of protons & neutrons. Then we find that they are made up of quarks…at the moment I think a quark is the smallest thing in the world but I’m sure physicists are trying go further an further towards infinitely small things.
      The smallest living cell is called Pelagibacter ubique, and is also known as SAR11. It is mainly found on the oceans surface and even though they are the samllest their combined weight is more than that of all the fish in the ocean!

    • Photo: Claire Vinten

      Claire Vinten answered on 14 Mar 2014:

      I think that Elizabeth is right, at the moment we have not been able to break quarks into smaller pieces – so we think that they are as small as you can get.

      So just to clarify: Imagine an atom – we know that atoms are really really really tiny. Then imagine that the atom is made up of building blocks. We break the atom apart and keep one of the building blocks. When we look at this building block we can see that this too is made up of smaller blocks. So we break it down again, into even smaller building blocks – and that is when we find a quark.

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