DOE/Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Fermilab scientists have been conducting experiments to look for quantum fluctuations of space and time at the smallest scale imaginable according to known physics. At this limit, the Planck length, our classical notions of space and time break down.
Imagine the ratio of the size of the universe compared to a speck of dust. That s about how big the speck of dust is compared to the Planck length, 10
-33 centimeters. The Planck time is how long it takes light to travel that distance.
Quantum mechanics tells us that everything is constantly fluctuating on small scales, but Planck-scale jitters of space and time themselves are so small that they ve never been measured in the laboratory. Better understanding movement at the Planck scale may help physicists answer a basic and important question: Why do things appear to happen at definite times and places?