Can Space Be Infinitely Divided?

Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime How many times can I half the distance between my hands? Assume perfect coordination and the ability to localize my palms to the quantum level. 15 halvings gets them to within a cell’s width. 33 to within a single atom, 50 and they’re a proton’s width apart. Half the distance 115 times and they’re a single Planck-length apart - 1.6x10^-35 meters. Surely we can keep going - .8, .4, .2 x10^-35 m? Bizarrely, those distances might not even exist in any meaningful way. Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini, Pedro Osinski, Adriano Leal & Stephanie Faria GFX Visualizations: Katherine Kornei Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Assistant Producer: Setare Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRl6-nb4iOnsij-vnpAjp0Q Special Thanks to Our Patreon Supporters Big Bang Supporters Charlie Mrs. Tiffany Poindexter Leo Koguan Sandy Wu Matthew Miller Scott Gray Ahmad Jodeh Radu Negulescu Alexander Tamas Morgan Hough Juan Benet Vinnie Falco Fabrice Eap Mark Rosenthal David Nicklas Quasar Supporters Stephen Wilcox Christina Oegren Mark Heising Hank S Hypernova Supporters william bryan Marc Armstrong Scott Gorlick Nick Berard Paul Stehr-Green MuON Marketing Russell Pope Ben Delo L. Wayne Ausbrooks Nicholas Newlin DrJYou Антон Кочков John R. Slavik Mathew Danton Spivey Donal Botkin John Pollock Edmund Fokschaner Joseph Salomone Matthew O'Connor chuck zegar Jordan Young m0nk Julien Dubois John Hofmann Daniel Muzquiz Timothy McCulloch Gamma Ray Burst Supporters Nubble Chris Navrides Scott R Calkins Carl Scaggs G Mack The Mad Mechanic Ellis Hall John H. Austin, Jr. Diana S Ben Campbell Lawrence Tholl, DVM Faraz Khan Almog Cohen Alex Edwards Nick Ádám Kettinger MD3 Endre Pech Daniel Jennings Cameron Sampson Pratik Mukherjee Geoffrey Clarion Nate Adrian Posor Darren Duncan Russ Creech Jeremy Reed Derek Davis Eric Webster Steven Sartore David Johnston J. King Michael Barton Christopher Barron James Ramsey Drew Hart Justin Jermyn Mr T Andrew Mann Jeremiah Johnson Peter Mertz Kevin O'Connell Isaac Suttell Devon Rosenthal Oliver Flanagan Bleys Goodson Darryl J Lyle Robert Walter Bruce B Ismael Montecel Simon Oliphant Mirik Gogri Mark Daniel Cohen Brandon Lattin Nickolas Andrew Freeman Shane Calimlim Tybie Fitzhugh Robert Ilardi Astaurus Eric Kiebler Craig Stonaha Martin Skans Michael Conroy Graydon Goss Frederic Simon Tonyface John Robinson A G Kevin Lee Adrian Hatch Yurii Konovaliuk John Funai Cass Costello Tristan Deloche Bradley Jenkins Kyle Hofer Daniel Stříbrný Luaan AlecZero Vlad Shipulin Cody Malte Ubl King Zeckendorff Nick Virtue Scott Gossett Dan Warren Patrick Sutton John Griffith Daniel Lyons DFaulk GrowingViolet Kevin Warne Andreas Nautsch Brandon labonte Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices