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

Question

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

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Answer 1

Because it is. This is what the world looks like. Atoms were not designed, so there’s no “purpose” to their structure. When people describe them, they describe the structure and the forces involved, but just like there’s no answer to “why is there something and not nothing?” there’s no answer to “why” in this case. “Empty space” is a simplification- outside of the nucleus, the space itself is packed with *probabilities*….