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Physics · Glossary

What is The structure ladder?

Also known as: quark · nucleon · nucleus · atom · molecule

Definition 13.1 High School Physics · Chapter 13 — The Fundamental Interactions

Matter is built in floors, each assembled from the one below: three quarks (pointlike, smaller than 10−18 m10^{-18}\,\mathrm{m}) bind into a nucleon — proton or neutron, about 10−15 m10^{-15}\,\mathrm{m} across; nucleons pack into a nucleus (10−15 m10^{-15}\,\mathrm{m} to 10−14 m10^{-14}\,\mathrm{m}); a nucleus plus its electron cloud is an atom (10−10 m10^{-10}\,\mathrm{m}); atoms bind into molecules and crystals (10−9 m10^{-9}\,\mathrm{m} up), which assemble into everyday objects (1 m1\,\mathrm{m}), planets (107 m10^{7}\,\mathrm{m}), planetary systems (1011 m10^{11}\,\mathrm{m}), galaxies (1021 m10^{21}\,\mathrm{m}) and the observable universe (1026 m10^{26}\,\mathrm{m}).

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