>>11661189>>11661024I always hated this high school level argument. Just because mass is centralized in the nucleus doesn’t mean the rest of the atom is “empty space”. Electrons are responsible for half the charge, nearly all of the atom’s chemistry, and quantum mechanics tells us the electrons is probably more like a spread out wave. Since other atoms are surrounded by electrons too which repeal one another, atoms definitely don’t treat one another like they are “empty space”. And since you are made of these atoms it’s obvious why it doesn’t feel empty. Just because high energy alpha particles can pass through gold foil in rutherfords experiment doesn’t mean this space is actually empty. I guess it’s good for demonstrations how small the nucleus is.
