Eli5 why is that an atom is 99,6 % empty space ?
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Imagine I am spinning around with my arms out holding hammers. Most of the space around me isn’t an arm swinging a hammer, but it still is clearing up a lot of space around me. So how close would you come to me? All the space around me that might end up with a hammer swinging through it is probably space you wouldn’t stand in, so that space now belongs to me. My torso is the nucleus and the hammers are the electrons. Now imagine my arms are miles long, and moving so fast that you can’t keep up. All that space is still mine, because entering that space will, eventually, get you hammered!
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