Can matter be divided infinitely, or is there a smallest particle?
A viewer asks whether the hierarchy of angels plays any role on Planck particles, which leads Robert to explain that matter is finite and cannot be divided without end.
Answer
The angels have nothing to do with it. The Planck particle, if that figure is correct, is the smallest dimension of matter that can remain matter. Matter is not infinite, so it has to end at some point; if you keep cutting it in half, you eventually reach a point where you cannot divide it in half again. Zeno might disagree and think you can keep dividing it in half theoretically, and we understand why he says that, but the physical reality is that you cannot, because matter is finite. Only God is infinite; matter and energy are created things, so they are finite and must reach an end. We could never see this with any tool, because you cannot cut something with a knife thicker than the thing you are cutting; we have not even seen an electron with an electron microscope. So it is theory, but theory can be substantive, because even your mind knows you cannot cut it indefinitely. And it must exist, because nothing cannot exist; if space takes up volume, then something is there, even if you cannot see it, just as you cannot see a DNA molecule but know it is there by what it does.