Eli5 why is that an atom is 99,6 % empty space ?
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The atom is made from a nucleus (protons neutrons) and electrons. These are often drawn as small balls. With this interpretation of an atom, you could say there is a lot of empty space between the electrons and the nucleus, but as we looked closer, this was not the case.
The better analogy is that there is a cloud for the nucleus and a cloud for the electron. We know the particles are within their respective clouds, but they don’t have an exact spot where they are.
But even this is wrong the particles aren’t *In* the clouds, the particles *are* the clouds. Location just isn’t well defined.
Look up “atomic orbital shapes” and you can see some of the shapes of these clouds.
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