Eli5 : If atoms are made of and separated by an incredible amount of empty space, why isn’t everything going through everything?

Question

Eli5 : If atoms are made of and separated by an incredible amount of empty space, why isn’t everything going through everything?

In: 456

Answer 1

While there is relatively enormous space between atomic nuclei, that space is a product of incredibly strong nuclear forces. These forces are essentially the electron cloud, while mostly empty space, there is still an incredible magnetic charge. The atoms tend to repel eachother because those clouds repel.

Essentially there may be space between nuclei, but because of those electron clouds, there exists a forcefield of sorts that prevents stuff from getting through.