However, protons and neutrons are made of quarks, which are point particles in the same sense as electrons. That’s why one can conclude that not 99%, but an honest 100% of the space is empty. Atoms consist of a tiny, positively charged nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. Although typically, the nucleus is less than one-tenth the size of the atom, the nucleus contains more than 99.9% of the atom’s mass.
Based on an examination of our DNA, any two human beings are 99.9 percent identical. The genetic differences between different groups of human beings are similarly minute. Still, we only have to look around to see an astonishing variety of individual differences in sizes, shapes, and facial features.
· Although, by volume, an atom is mostly space, dominated by the electron cloud, the dense atomic nucleus, responsible for only 1 part in 10^15 of an atom’s volume, contains ~99.95% of an atom’s mass.
Since atoms don’t have a solid surface, in one sense, there’s nothing to “touch” because there’s never a situation where one boundary meets another boundary. But “touch” also conveys a sense of up-close-and-personal influence, and atoms always touch.
- Atoms consist of a tiny, positively charged nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. Although typically, the nucleus is less than one-tenth the size of the atom, the nucleus contains more than 99.9% of the atom’s mass.
- How do we know they exist? We can witness their effects through chemical reactions. We can calculate their various sizes through mathematical equations combined with indirect observations. And finally, with new technologies such as the scanning Tunnelling microscope, atoms can now be seen. \
- The quantum-theoretical answer to the question is that atoms are not 99.99% empty. Despite what many descriptions in popular texts, and even in high school physics or chemistry textbooks, try to convey, they are misleading metaphors.
- Yes, an electron does take up a finite, near-point-like amount of space, as does the nucleus, but only if you measure it. If you leave it alone, the electron is everywhere around the nucleus. An atom is filled with smeared-out electrons, which don’t occupy a particular near-point-like amount of space but exist as probability clouds.
The model of an atom we get in school looks like this: A ball made of balls, with many more petite balls zooming around it, right? And maybe you heard somewhere that if.
