He said in his question that the particles in this particular theoretical example have infinitely small mass. Which suggests some mass, as opposed to no mass ...
While we can certainly hypothesize particles with no mass when we refer to known particles as massless, like the photon, we mean they have no rest mass, but any particle which contains energy does exert gravity, at least to the best of our knowledge... it is actually possible there are particles negative or imaginary mass for that matter.
I can't claim to rightly understand the volume part of it, but if they have some amount of mass, even if it's the least amount possible, wouldn't they also take up some amount of space, even if it's the least amount possible? The idea of something having mass but no volume seems counterintuitive to me. But I know that science can be exactly that sometimes.
Volume's almost a meaningless term with subatomic particles, but there are two types of partciles, bosons and fermions, and bosons have no problem being in the same place with other particles, they fall under the 'how many angels on the head of a pin?' area whereas fermions are - very loosely speaking - solid objects that can't be in the same place as each other, bosons can be.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
Psuedo-scientic metaphysical question thingy about infinity. Plus some other random stuff.
- 16/08/2011 12:22:44 AM
529 Views
This kinda hinges on quantum, planck units, and even dark matter
- 16/08/2011 12:58:57 AM
431 Views
I think you're actually asking more than about infinity.
- 16/08/2011 01:04:54 AM
485 Views
Your central premise here is the reason I posit Unity as the First Cause.
- 16/08/2011 12:31:54 PM
385 Views
Re: Psuedo-scientic metaphysical question thingy about infinity. Plus some other random stuff.
- 16/08/2011 05:09:32 AM
421 Views
I don't know about the rest of the questions but I approach sobriety with atleast a liter of tequila *NM*
- 16/08/2011 06:12:53 AM
171 Views
Well, you haven't said anything about the space or density, so it's impossible to comment on volume.
- 16/08/2011 12:09:41 PM
436 Views
The volume is zero.
- 16/08/2011 04:50:06 PM
377 Views