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

• 1.62 × 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

• 310 zm — de Broglie wavelength of protons at the Large Hadron Collider (4 TeV as of 2012)

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