Zooming into the Universe

When you start zooming into the universe, you don’t just find smaller things — you find whole new worlds.

First, you see molecules: chains of atoms forming DNA, proteins, and everything life depends on.

Zoom in further, and you reach the atoms themselves — the building blocks of all matter, made of a tiny nucleus orbited by electrons.

Inside that nucleus are protons, tightly packed and held together by the strong nuclear force.

But protons aren’t the end of the line. They’re made of even smaller particles called quarks — fundamental, indivisible (as far as we know), and bound by gluons.

And if string theory is right, even quarks might be made of something deeper: tiny vibrating strings of energy, each one creating a different particle depending on how it moves.

From molecules to atoms, protons to quarks — and maybe all the way down to strings — the universe gets stranger the closer you look.

See more space comics & infographics: www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/