Eli5 why is that an atom is 99,6 % empty space ?
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I think some answers are misleading. Yes quantum uncertainty doesn’t allow to pinpoint the nucleus and electrons as being at a specific point in space.
But the orbitals are not full, they are just density probabilty functions tied to the electrons energy levels. That doesn’t mean the electrons are “distributed” in all that space, it’s just a function that tells you where they are likely to be found if you were to trying to measure them. It’s akin to say that a tennis ball is somewhere in a court. You’re indeed most likely to find in that specific space but the ball itself is much smaller.
When we call it empty it’s because the influence of the electrons is electromagnetic but when considering neutral particle, the part of the atom that can interact, the nucleus, is indeed extremely tiny. (this was observed when looking how neutrons could be deflected/bounced against atoms)
We don’t know the size of the electrons, but we know the actual particles are quite far from the nucleus compared to the size of it (against, because of uncertainty, the actual size/position of the nucleus is not completly known but it’s influence can be measured and detected. That’s where the saying comes from.
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