Hmm if a particle is a quantized packet of a field, then if multiple quantizations are possible in a field, then it's possible for more particles than fields?

	▲	tlogan 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I somehow deleted my original comment. I actually made mistake. There are 16 fields: * 12 matter fields (6 quarks + 6 leptons) * 1 gluon field (an 8-component SU(3) field) * 1 weak field (a 3-component SU(2) field) * 1 hypercharge field (a 1-component U(1) field) * 1 Higgs field (SU(2) x U(1)) We have 17 particles is because W+, W-, Z are combination on 2 fields. I think counting particles is just going to confuse people because they are really not “balls”.