Am I closer to the size of a photon or the size of the sun?

Could dimensions be elementary particles?

Is everywhere in space equally dense, but due to our perception it appears blobby? [The blobs are just bits bubbing through into the space time reality we see and the gaps are in other dimensions we cant see.]

im going for a lie down now.

According to Quantum Mechanics, I think you are closer in size to the Universe, as it assumes photons to be points, while we think the Universe is finite (at least the visible universe). That is, you can fill more photons in the volume of your body than we can put yous in the Universe. String Theory, and others, might disagree though.
Maybe, depending on how you mean. String Theory tries to model elementary particles as different vibration patterns in non-spatial dimensions.
The Universe appears to be isotropic on large scales. So, yes.

Photons don't have a well-defined physical size, so it's hard to compare anything to the size of a photon.

We had a rather contentious thread recently about the size of elementary particles, and whether they could in fact be zero-dimensional. But maybe it's best if we don't reopen that discussion!

About blobbiness, I believe that the current consensus is that the blobbiness is real at all scales, almost right back to the Big Bang. Some have suggested that, if current theories about dark matter are correct, the dark matter might be more evenly distributed, but this seems less likely now. We've even observed a whole galaxy that's almost entirely dark matter!

I may have to lie down too...

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No! The density of the universe varies from almost zero in the voids between galactic super clusters to theoretically infinite at the singularity of a black hole.

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The Sun is 700,000,000 times better than you.
You are 400,000,000,000 times larger than a proton.

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"better"?
interesting... how saintly is the Andromeda galaxy then?

Well, it is confirmed. I'm a bad, bad person.

Don't ya just love typos?

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That clinches it. You people smoke better stuff than I can get.

Proton, yes, but we're talking about photons here, no?

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well dimensionally...


you are only 2m or so larger than a photon.


you are only 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000m smaller than the universe.



you are much closer dimensionally to a photon.



order of magnitude? good question. I always figured us close to the middle.

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No where near the middle. Even if we assume a photon is the planck length, and the universe to be 30 BLY, we're maybe 3/5 of the way to 30 BLY. So we're closer in size to the universe, in terms of magnitude.

But please pick a better ruler than a photon. No matter how ironic that may be.

great answers guys! I must read The Hitchhikers Guide again, he seemed to have it all worked out.

one thing
I was wondering if there was an equal ammount of stuff in the voids, we just dont see/feel it. and therfore less of the stuff we dont see in the places like the center of a black hole where we know alot of measurable stuff is.

This would go on to say that the gaps inside an atom, are not gaps but full of stuff we dont sense. erm, .. :-s

There were a lot of reference to String Theory in one of the top posts, but one thing about it confuses me.

If they are indeed the smallest object we know of. And if they are "strings", that is, an object that is longer than it is wide, does that mean that if i were to get the universe's smallest pair of scissors, i could cut the "strings" in half, therefore creating an even smaller particle?

no.


these things are smaller than atoms.... much smaller.


the Universe's smallest scissors woud have to be imaginary

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"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
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Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

hi,

my origional questions.

1) Am I closer to the size of a photon or the size of the sun?

I will now accept that I dont need to know and cant get a real answer for it. Yes using a photon as a point to measure from was a little daft. I was trying to get the to the two extremes of size that I can barly imaginge, then see how I fitted in. thanks for the replies.

2) Could dimensions be elementary particles?

Another daft thought I like having is to try and imagine worlds with diferent numbers of dimensions. Its when I first thought of a one dimensional place that I began to think that a dimension without any others is quite elemetory, it then takes other dimensions to give the previous dimension any, well, dimension.

3) Is everywhere in space equally dense, but due to our perception it appears blobby? [The blobs are just bits bubbing through into the space time reality we see and the gaps are in other dimensions we cant see.]

This is my favorite part of the quesions in all. Pitty I named the thread otherwise. I just love the idea that every where/thing is as equaly full of stuff. and stuff is equaly spread everwhere. Its just how that stuff is acting at the time of observation and how it acts on its neighbours that gives it its either appearance or non appearance to us. I think its much more common for somehting to be out of our 5sensory (pluss radio, microvave...) perception, than inside it.

end of transmittiion____________________

afterthought, probably not fit for discussion..

It seems that the addition of one dimension to any other group of dimension will fill space more. If you could see things as they are with every dimesion that is now concived say 10. I think you would be inable to move for stuff.

Let's take the case of a hydrogen nucleus instead.

r_nucleus = 1.2 * 10^-15 m
r_universe = 1.5 * 10^10 ly = 1.4 * 10^26 m (used alainprice's figure here)
V_nucleus = 3.14 * (1.2 * 10^-15 m)³ * 4 / 3 = 1.4 * 10^-44 m³
V_you = 7.5 * 10^-2 m³ (sorry if it's a bit off )
V_universe = 3.14 * (1.4 * 10^26 m)³ * 4 / 3 = 1.1 * 10^79 m³

I think it is clear from above that you are closer in size to a hydrogen nuclues than the Universe (roughly 40 vs. 80 orders of magnitude).

EDIT: The number for the nucleus' radius is off by a bit. This page has it (proton radius) to be 0.805 ± 0.011 and 0.862 ± 0.012 fm (10^-15 m). Doesn't change the conclusion though.

Vyou = 7.5 * 10^-2 m3 (sorry if it's a bit off )

I'm flattered.

My lungs hold more air than that.

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"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross