Distances shorter than 1 pm

To help compare different orders of magnitude this page lists lengths shorter than 10⁻¹² metres (1 pm).

This series on orders of magnitude does not have a range of shorter distances

Shorter than 1 ym

• 1.6 × 10⁻³⁵ metres = the Planck length (lengths smaller than this do not make any physical sense, according to current theories of physics)

1 ym to 1 zm

• 1 × 10⁻²⁴ metres = 1 ym = 1 yoctometre, the smallest named subdivision of the metre in the SI base unit of length.

• 1 × 10⁻²³ metres = 10 ym

• 2 × 10⁻²³ metres = 20 ym, the effective cross-section radius of 1 MeV neutrinos as measured by Clyde Cowan and Frederick Reines^[1]

• 1 × 10⁻²² metres = 100 ym

1 zm to 1 am

• 1 × 10⁻²¹ metres = 1 zm = 1 zeptometre = 1,000 yoctometres

• 2 × 10⁻²¹ metres = radius of effective cross section for a 20 GeV neutrino scattering off a nucleon^[2]

• 7 × 10⁻²¹ metres = radius of effective cross section for a 250 GeV neutrino scattering off a nucleon^[2]

• 1 × 10⁻²⁰ metres = 10 zm

• 1 × 10⁻¹⁹ metres = 100 zm

• 354 zm — de Broglie wavelength of protons at the Large Hadron Collider (3.5 TeV as of 2011)

1 am to 1 fm

• 1 × 10⁻¹⁸ metres = 1 am = 1 attometre = 1,000 zeptometres

• 1 am — sensitivity of the LIGO detector for gravitational waves

• 1 × 10⁻¹⁷ metres = 10 am

• 1 × 10⁻¹⁶ metres = 100 am

• 0.85 fm — approximate proton radius^[3]

1 fm to 1 pm

• 1 × 10⁻¹⁵ metres = 1 fm = 1 femtometre = 1,000 attometres

• 1.5 fm — diameter of the Scattering Cross Section of an 11 MeV proton with a target proton^[4]

• 2.81794 fm — classical electron radius^[5]

• 7 fm - the radius of the effective scattering cross section for a gold nucleus scattering a 6 MeV alpha particle over 140 degrees^[4]

• 1 × 10⁻¹⁴ metres = 10 fm

• 1 × 10⁻¹³ metres = 100 fm

• 1 × 10⁻¹² metres = 1 pm = 1 picometre = 1,000 femtometres

Distances longer than 1 pm

See also

• SI prefixed forms of metre (yoctometre, zeptometre, attometre, femtometre, picometre)
• Orders of magnitude (length)

References

1. ^ Carl R. Nave. "Cowan and Reines Neutrino Experiment". http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/cowan.html#c1. Retrieved 2008-12-04.  (6.3 x 10⁻⁴⁴ cm², which gives an effective radius of about 2 x 10⁻²³ m)
2. ^ ^{a b} Carl R. Nave. "Neutron Absorption Cross-sections". http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/particles/neutrino3.html#c2. Retrieved 2008-12-04.  (area for 20 GeV about 10 x 10⁻⁴² m² gives effective radius of about 2 x 10⁻²¹ m; for 250 GeV about 150 x 10⁻⁴² m² gives effective radius of about 7 x 10⁻²¹ m)
3. ^ Randolf Pohl, Aldo Antognini, François Nez, Fernando D. Amaro, François Biraben, João M. R. Cardoso, Daniel S. Covita, Andreas Dax, Satish Dhawan, Luis M. P. Fernandes, Adolf Giesen, Thomas Graf, Theodor W. Hänsch, Paul Indelicato, Lucile Julien, Cheng-Yang Kao, Paul Knowles, Eric-Olivier Le Bigot, Yi-Wei Liu, José A. M. Lopes, Livia Ludhova, Cristina M. B. Monteiro, Françoise Mulhauser, Tobias Nebel, Paul Rabinowitz, et al. (8 July 2010). "The size of the proton". Nature 466 (7303): 213–216. Bibcode 2010Natur.466..213P. doi:10.1038/nature09250. PMID 20613837. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7303/abs/nature09250.html. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Carl R. Nave. "Scattering Cross Section". http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nuclear/crosec.html. Retrieved 2009-02-10. 
5. ^ NIST. CODATA Value: classical electron radius. Retrieved 2009-02-10