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

An atom isn‘t 99.6% empty space. That‘s what scientists thought in the 1910s, but since the 1920s we know that electrons in atoms don‘t behave like tiny balls (like we thought before) but more like clouds. You wouldn‘t call a cloud an empty space. This means the space of an atom is 100% occupied by the electrons.