ELECTRON

[spacecadet11]

What is the physical size of an "electron?" in scientific notation.
What is the physical size of a "quark?"
What is the physical size of a "photon?"
I have heard that an electron can behave just like a particle and a wave (ie. as in an electron wave).
What is the physical size limit ( in scientific notation) when a particle becomes a wave? Does the limit have a name?
What is the principle in physics that transforms a particle into a wave in real world experiments?
Thank you for any and all answers.
Bye
SC

 

[origin]

What is the physical size of an "electron?" in scientific notation.

Well that is a really unaswerable question because an electron has both wave and particle atributes so it is a little hard to nail down. The classical (non quantum) size is put at 3 X 10^-15 meters.

What is the physical size of a "quark?"
What is the physical size of a "photon?"

niether of these have a physical size that can be measured. The do have an energy that can be measured though and that is typically how they would be measured for 'size'.

I

have heard that an electron can behave just like a particle and a wave (ie. as in an electron wave).
What is the physical size limit ( in scientific notation) when a particle becomes a wave?

interesting question. I looked it up and apparently the wave partilce duality can be seen in some fullerines (like buckballs) with a mass as high as C60 (a carbon molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms).

Does the limit have a name?

That limit does not have a name, that I know of.

What is the principle in physics that transforms a particle into a wave in real world experiments?

It is not like a transformation, it is just that the particles have attributes of both waves and particles.

 

[ramparts]

Please read this as a supplement to origin's excellent response above.

What is the physical size of an "electron?" in scientific notation.

Don't quite read too much into the number that origin quoted, though: what that means (if I recall correctly) is that 3*10^-15 m is the size the electron would have, given its charge, if it were a classical object. But it's not a classical object. In quantum mechanics, the notions of size on such small scales are poorly-defined.

I have heard that an electron can behave just like a particle and a wave (ie. as in an electron wave).
What is the physical size limit ( in scientific notation) when a particle becomes a wave? Does the limit have a name?

There is no hard limit. The bigger the scales, the harder it is to see wave nature (and the better instruments you need). Also, the bigger the scales, the more unlikely you are to see wave nature; for example, if you run into a wall, there's a non-zero chance that you'll display your wave nature and pass right through it. But I wouldn't recommend trying it

Even though there isn't a hard limit, there is a length - called the Compton wavelength - which more or less tells you where the two effects are equally prominent. Bigger than the Compton length, a particle will look more like a particle, and smaller than that, it'll look more like a wave. The Compton wavelength is dependent on the particle's mass.

What is the principle in physics that transforms a particle into a wave in real world experiments?

Just to clarify, they can always be seen as either - they are never transformed from one into another. Hope that helps!