Planck length
The Planck length () is the smallest unit of length. It is calculated from three physical constants: the speed of light, the Planck constant, and the gravitational constant. The length was established as a way to simplify many of the more fundamental equations — if equations are written in Planck units, you can do away with many physical constants and not have to worry about dimensions. The Planck length does not have any precise physical significance, and it is a common misconception that it is the inherent “pixel size” or smallest possible length of the universe.[1] If a length smaller than this is used in any measurement, then it has a chance of being wrong due to quantum uncertainty.[2]
It is about 1.616255×10−35 m or about 10−20 times the size of a proton. It is one of the Planck units, defined by Max Planck. It is an important length for quantum gravity because it may be approximately the size of the smallest black holes.[3]
The speed of light is also one Planck length per Planck time.
If a quarter were scaled down to the size of a Planck length, then to match the size of a regular quarter at that scale, the entire observable universe would shrink to the size of a single pixel on a TV screen. To create a representation of a normal-sized quarter at this scale, you would need an array of approximately 20 TVs, each showing a pixel, with the total covering the entire span of a quarter. In this cosmic scale, a dime would be Planck-length-sized.
Related pages
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ Klotz, Alex (9 September 2015). "What Planck Length Is and It's Common Misconceptions".
- ↑ "Is it possible for something to be smaller than a Planck length?". Physics Forums: Science Discussion, Homework Help, Articles. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ↑ Baez, John. "The Planck Length".
