Point particle

Common card · No. 354157

A point particle, ideal particle or point-like particle (or pointlike particle) is an idealization used in physics. Its defining feature is negligible spatial extension or a body whose own rotation is irrelevant. A point particle is an appropriate representation of any object whenever its size, shape, and structure are irrelevant in a given context. For example, from far enough away, any finite-size object will look and behave as a point-like object. Point masses and point charges are two common cases. When a point particle has an additive property, such as mass or charge, it is often represented mathematically by a Dirac delta function. In classical mechanics there is usually no concept of rotation of point particles about their "center". In quantum mechanics, the concept of a point particle is complicated by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, because even an elementary particle, with no known internal structure, occupies a nonzero volume. There is nevertheless a distinction between...

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