Eli5 why is that an atom is 99,6 % empty space ?

Question

Eli5 why is that an atom is 99,6 % empty space ?

In: 332

Answer 1

Imagine the atom being like the game Pole Tennis(Totem tennis, tether tennis, swingball). The pole being the nucleus and the tennis ball being the electron, only the tennis ball is moving around so fast you can’t see it

You could say the size of the pole tennis game is a sphere around the pole because you don’t know where the tennis ball is (Because its moving so fast)

However, the vast majority of the pole tennis game is empty space, because the tennis ball can only be in 1 place at a time.