We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Physics

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What is the Planck Scale?

Michael Anissimov
By
Updated: May 21, 2024
Views: 28,912
Share

In physics, the Planck scale refers to either a very large energy scale (1.22 x 1019 GeV) or a very tiny size scale (1.616 x 10-35 meters) where the quantum effects of gravity become important in describing particle interactions. At the Planck size scale, quantum uncertainty is so intense that concepts like locality and causality become less meaningful. Today’s physicists are very interested in learning more about the Planck scale, as a quantum theory of gravity is something we currently lack. Were a physicist able to come up with a quantum theory of gravity that agrees with experiment, it would practically guarantee them a Nobel Prize.

It is a fundamental fact of the physics of light that, the more energy a photon (light particle) carries, the smaller a wavelength it has. For instance, visible light has a wavelength of around a few hundred nanometers, while the much more energetic gamma rays have a wavelength about the size of an atomic nucleus. The Planck energy and the Planck length are related in that a photon would need to have a Planck-scale energy value in order to have a wavelength as small as the Planck length.

To make things even more complicated, even if we could create a photon this energetic, we could not use it to precisely measure something at the Planck scale – it would be so energetic that the photon would collapse into a black hole before it returned any information. Thus, many physicists believe that the Planck scale represents some sort of fundamental limit on how small the distances we can probe are. The Planck length may be the smallest physically meaningful size scale there is, in which case the universe can be thought of as a tapestry of “pixels” – each a Planck length in diameter.

The Planck energy scale is almost unimaginably large, while the Planck size scale is almost unimaginably small. The Planck energy is about a quintillion times larger than the energies achievable in our very best particle accelerators, which are used to create and observe exotic subatomic particles. A particle accelerator powerful enough to probe the Planck scale directly would need to have a circumference similar in size to the orbit of Mars, constructed from about as much material as our Moon.

Since such a particle accelerator is not likely to be built in the foreseeable future, physicists look to other methods for probing the Planck scale. One is looking for gigantic “cosmic strings” which may have been created when the universe as a whole was so hot and small that it had Planck-level energies. This would have occurred in the first trillionth of a second after the Big Bang.

Share
All The Science is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Michael Anissimov
By Michael Anissimov
Michael Anissimov is a dedicated All The Science contributor and brings his expertise in paleontology, physics, biology, astronomy, chemistry, and futurism to his articles. An avid blogger, Michael is deeply passionate about stem cell research, regenerative medicine, and life extension therapies. His professional experience includes work with the Methuselah Foundation, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and Lifeboat Foundation, further showcasing his commitment to scientific advancement.
Discussion Comments
Michael Anissimov
Michael Anissimov
Michael Anissimov is a dedicated All The Science contributor and brings his expertise in paleontology, physics, biology...
Learn more
Share
https://www.allthescience.org/what-is-the-planck-scale.htm
Copy this link
All The Science, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

All The Science, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.