Word: trillionths
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...probably be an "elementary length" which will divide space into "smallest" units, just as Planck's Constant divided the flow of energy into "smallest" bursts (the "quantum" of the quantum theory). Gamow suspects that this missing length may turn out to be about 10 -13 centimeter (one ten-trillionth of a centimeter). A length close to this shows up as the radius of an electron, and as the effective range of forces in the atomic nuclei. "All kinds of physical considerations," says Gamow, "become senseless when we try to apply them to distances smaller than 10 -13 centimeter...