As an example of the power of alpha, we can take the electron -- the lightest particle -- and the top quark -- the heaviest particle, and relate their masses in powers of alpha.

 

The electron mass is 0.511 MeV (million electron volts). The top quark t mass, which took ten years of incredibly sophisticated experiments at Fermilab to measure, is 172,500 MeV. According to the latest ideas in particle physics, these two masses are totally unrelated. But by applying the Power of Alpha we can come up with a very simple equation.

 

The equation which ties these two masses together is mass(t) = (mass(electron) x 18) / (alpha x alpha), where alpha = 1/137.036 - If we put the numbers in, using a pocket calculator, the calculated top quark mass t is mass(t) = 172,730 MeV which is almost exactly equal to the measured value of 172,500 ± 2,300 MeV.