[neutralino]

Originally Posted by Profpat Hi Neutralino; I know the electron may be viewed as a point particle anywhere in space, but once manisfested with a proton isn't it " Larger " than the proton in that it is viewed as a " cloud "

My honest answer is that I don't know! I don't know whether it's even possible to talk about the "size" of an electron that is in an orbital around a nucleus. Sorry.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter whether an electron is smaller than a proton, since electrons do not make up protons! An electron is definitely "smaller" than an atom, and a quark is smaller than a proton. The point I was making is that particles made up of other minute particles in the same way that very small strings can make up particles.