Problem setting rectangle size in tikz picture

Question

I have a rectangle in tikzpicture that appears to have a minimum size that it can be set to as when I try to reduce the size further it just becomes a square and will not get any smaller. I am trying to make the node width the same as the edge below it in the image.

For example:

\begin{tikzpicture}
[->,  thick, scale=.5, 
rectangle1/.style={rectangle, fill=red,  minimum width=.05cm, minimum height= .2cm},
no node/.style={circle, minimum size=0cm, inner sep=0pt}
]
\node[no node] (1) at (0,0) {$ $};
\node[no node] (2) at (10,0) {$ $};
\node [rectangle1, above] (A) at (5,0) {};

\path [-]
(1) edge[red] node{} (2)
;
\end{tikzpicture}

However, when I change my settings in rectangle1/.style, and reduce the width and height there is no change in the result.

Is there a minimum size the rectangle node can be set at? And if so, can anyone suggest a different node type that I could use?

Answer 1

In order to apply a transformation such as scale to a tikz node, one must active the transform shape option. By default tikz does not apply transformations to nodes.

From pgfmanual:

It is possible to transform nodes, but, by default, transformations do not apply to nodes. The reason is that you usually do not want your text to be scaled or rotated even if the main graphic is transformed. Scaling text is evil, rotating slightly less so.

See pgfmanual version 3.0.1a p 234 Section 17.7 for more information.