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 1018m10^{-18}\,\mathrm{m}) bind into a nucleon — proton or neutron, about 1015m10^{-15}\,\mathrm{m} across; nucleons pack into a nucleus (1015m10^{-15}\,\mathrm{m} to 1014m10^{-14}\,\mathrm{m}); a nucleus plus its electron cloud is an atom (1010m10^{-10}\,\mathrm{m}); atoms bind into molecules and crystals (109m10^{-9}\,\mathrm{m} up), which assemble into everyday objects (1m1\,\mathrm{m}), planets (107m10^{7}\,\mathrm{m}), planetary systems (1011m10^{11}\,\mathrm{m}), galaxies (1021m10^{21}\,\mathrm{m}) and the observable universe (1026m10^{26}\,\mathrm{m}).

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