What is the Smallest Thing Possible? [ft. Everything Science] @zapphysics

Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago

Check out our video over on Everything Science's channel: youtube.com/watch?v=tg1OAti1hFU

Things in our universe are get really small. So small that the sizes very quickly become unimaginable. Asking what the smallest thing that we know of is is an interesting question to consider. But an even more interesting question is what the smallest thing possible is. The answer blends together quantum mechanics, special relativity, and general relativity in an incredible way.

Music credit:
'Low Frequency Music'
Track Name: 'Good Day'
Music By: Low Frequency Music @ soundcloud.com/user-551516820
License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) License.
Music promoted by NCM goo.gl/fh3rEJ @
LoFi-HipHop.com

"Who I Want To Be"
Track Name: "My Favorite Song Is Your Heartbeat"
• Snapchat - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be
• SoundCloud - soundcloud.com/who-i-want-to-be
• Music released by: Chill Out Records goo.gl/fh3rEJ
License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• See More @ LoFi-HipHop.com

What is the Smallest Thing Possible? [ft. Everything Science]

$What does 1+2+3+... REALLY equal and what does it have to do with particle physics? The sum of natural numbers, 1+2+3+..., is a fairly regularly cited sum to show off the strange nature of mathematics. This is mainly due to the fact that it can (seemingly) easily be shown to be equal to -1/12. Thats right. Not only is the result finite, it is also a fraction as well as negative! This seems completely crazy and thats because there is an important factor of infinity that is hidden from view when proving this in the usual ways. So lets find out what this sum is equal to while still retaining this mysterious hidden infinity. The way of doing this is through what is known as regularization of the series (which is secretly done is the normal way of evaluating this sum as well). This parallels nicely to a technique in physics known as renormalization, where we take infinities that show up like this and hide them in other places, like the masses and charges of particles. This allows us to have finite physics, but we lose the ability to predict these quantities. ► Music Credit: Dj Quads Track Name: Its Near Music By: Dj Quads @ https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads Original upload HERE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI79n3E1U_g Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZapPhysics$

Lets Learn Physics: Adding Some Dimension

Why Do Universal Constants Show Up and Why Can We Get Rid of Them?

Lets Learn Physics: Chaos in Phase Space

Black Hole Physics: 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics

Lets Learn Physics: Fun with Fourier Transforms