• Question: what colour is particles

    Asked by nascientist to Sarah, Tom on 24 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Tom Crick

      Tom Crick answered on 24 Jun 2011:

      If you are talking about sub-atomic particles, then the question does not necessarily apply! Due to the different scale of sub-atomic particle and the frequency of visible light (and what we perceive as colours), they have no colour because light cannot interact with them.

      In particle physics, there is a property of certain elementary particles (called quarks and gluons) that is related to the particles’ strong interactions in the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD): this is called colour but is completely unrelated to visual perception of color.

    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 24 Jun 2011:

      We see colour based on what frequency of light is reflected by an object. The colour of certain particles depends on what particles you are referring to. I suppose the answer to your question is that particles can be any colour. If there is a particular kind of particle you are curiousl about leave a comment below and we will find out what colour it is for you 🙂

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