Re: Is there anything that takes up space but has no mass?

Jeffrey,

A better question might be whether there is anything that has mass and takes up space! The elementary particles which we know about all seem to have no size at all. Electrons have a radius smaller than 10E-16 centimeters, and while protons have a radius of about 10E-13 centimeters, they are actually made up of smaller quarks which also appear to be pointlike.

But that does not mean that there is only empty space between these pointlike particles. The reason that objects appear solid is due to the fact that we experience the effect of the fields between all of the particles. To see what I mean, take two magnets and hold them near each other. You can feel the tangible presence of the magnetic field between them, especially when the magnets are repelling each other. What is interesting about this exercise is that although these magnetic fields are occupying space, they are composed of massless photons being exchanged between them.

So as you can see, much of space is occupied by things with no mass, while the massive particles that make up matter have no size at all!

It's an interesting world, isn't it?

Cheers,
Sam Silverstein