If atoms are 99,9% emptiness, how can they keep things together ? Like, if my skin is 99,9% emptiness, why is it able to keep blood and organs in it ?

Question

If atoms are 99,9% emptiness, how can they keep things together ? Like, if my skin is 99,9% emptiness, why is it able to keep blood and organs in it ?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

imagine each atom has a big invisible forcefield around it that repels other atoms. if two atoms get too close, the forcefields bounce off each other, but the atoms themselves (the nuclei) never touch.

But sometimes the forcefields merge and the atoms share a forcefield, which is a chemical bond.

those forcefields are electron clouds (orbitals).