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?

it's called quantum occupation number - literally how many particles (packets) are at a particular point in space-time. only for boson fields.

think like the intensity of a RGB pixel - R can be 1, or maybe 10 for a particular pixel, thus you have 10 red "packets"

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”.