Big answer to smallest question

SOMETIMES VERY small things can deliver very big answers. Scientists in Britain have spent 10 years measuring the shape of electrons, the smallest bit of an atom, in the hopes of explaining fundamental questions about the entire universe.

After a decade they have completed the finest electron measurement yet, publishing their findings this morning in the journal Nature.

Researchers at Imperial College London used lasers to measure the roundness of electrons. The current theories hold that electrons should be very round, but definitely not perfectly round.

They believe that if they can measure the size of this imperfection, they can use the information to explain why the universe is full of matter, but not its opposite, known as antimatter. They have done so to a staggering level of accuracy, down to a level of just 0.000000000000000000000000001 of a centimetre.

To put this into context, it is the equivalent of measuring the entire solar system down to within just the width of a single human hair.

They sent their electrons spinning like a top and used a laser to measure their motion, looking to see whether they spun true or wobbled slightly. A perfect sphere would have no wobble but an imperfect one would wobble, even if only very slightly.

Unfortunately, all the researchers could see was a round electron with no wobble. Either the theories are wrong and electrons can be round or the researchers’ measurements are still not accurate enough.

If they could measure the wobble then it might explain why all the universe’s antimatter disappeared after the Big Bang. They haven’t got their answer yet,though.