We’ve known for decades now that protons, neutrons and electrons are in turn made up of smaller particles, that is, protons, electrons and neutrons have structure. We also know that some of these other particles aren’t just theoretical constructs or accidental assemblies, but that they have actually been observed in nature, in particle accelerators, radioactive decay, and even in direct observations of natural processes (like neutrinos from the Sun’s core).
This zoo of particles may very well go on forever. We have no guarantee that someday we will have found them all, that we will have a complete inventory or catalog of all the possible manifestations of matter. As we keep on smashing these guys into one another at higher speeds, new ones (both real sub-components of matter, and “artificial”, temporary artifacts of high energies and short half-lives) may just continue popping into existence–no matter how far down we go.
My question is this. It seems the most complex atomic structures in nature are chemical compounds made up of combinations of a finite number of elements. All of these can be described precisely without referring at all to these exotic particles. All we really need to describe even the most complex biochemistry is just three basic particles, the proton, neutron and electron. Other particles, such as quarks, may make up vital parts of chemical substances, but you don’t really need to know anything about them to communicate a precise, complete and unambiguous chemical formula for any molecule, hence any compound.
Within our own cognitive horizon, every form of matter we can conceive of is made up of a mere 92 elements (plus a few temporary, short-lived artificial radio-active species) and their isotopes. And every single one of these, several hundred species in all, can be built up from only three components: p+, e- and n.
The most complex compound I know of is DNA, but it is a script written in an alphabet of only three letters. Even if each of these guys is built of a multitude of smaller parts, still all protons, electrons and neutrons are essentially identical and indistinguishable.
For some reason, that strikes me as being very profound.