Why can we not see electrons or any other subatomic particle with our naked eye, without using any apparatus?
[Physics] Why can’t we see electrons with our naked eyes
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particle-detectorsparticle-physicsvision
Why can we not see electrons or any other subatomic particle with our naked eye, without using any apparatus?
Best Answer
How do we see objects? We 'see' objects when light reflects off them and reaches our eyes. Theres a fact that light cannot reflect off objects smaller than half the wavelength of the light used. Smallest wavelength of light is for violet, which is 400nm, half of it is 200nm. The classical radius of an electron is 2.817*10^-15m (Wikipedia source), which is much smaller than the wavelength of light. Since light wont reflect off an electron, you cant see it.