Almost all of ordinary matter 99 9999999 of it is empty space if you took out all of the space in our atoms the entire human race all 7 billion of us would fit into the volume of a sugar cube

Almost all of ordinary matter is empty space

Have you ever wondered what the world around us is made of? It may surprise you to learn that almost all of ordinary matter is empty space. In fact, 99.9999999% of it is just that - empty space! If you took out all of the space in our atoms, the entire human race, all 7 billion of us, would fit into the volume of a sugar cube.

You might be thinking, how is that possible? How can something that appears solid actually be mostly empty space? To understand this, we need to delve into the structure of atoms.

Atoms are the building blocks of matter. They consist of a nucleus, which is made up of positively charged protons and neutral neutrons, surrounded by negatively charged electrons. The nucleus is incredibly small compared to the overall size of the atom, and the electrons orbit around it in a vast empty space.

The size of an atom is on the order of picometers, which is one trillionth of a meter. In comparison, a sugar cube has a volume of about one cubic centimeter, which is approximately one billion times larger than a picometer. This vast difference in scale highlights the amount of empty space within an atom.

If we were to remove all the empty space from our atoms, we would effectively be compressing the atoms to occupy a much smaller volume. This compression would allow all of humanity, with a population of 7 billion people, to fit into a sugar cube. It’s a mind-boggling concept that demonstrates the sheer emptiness that exists within matter.

But don’t let the notion of empty space fool you into thinking that matter is insignificant. Despite its emptiness, matter is incredibly diverse and plays a vital role in shaping our world. The arrangement and interactions of atoms give rise to the incredible variety of substances we encounter every day, from the air we breathe to the food we eat.

So next time you hold a sugar cube in your hand, take a moment to ponder the incredible fact that the entire human race could fit within its tiny volume. It’s a reminder of the vast emptiness that lies within the world around us, and yet the infinite possibilities that arise from the interactions of the few particles that make up matter.

Source: ScienceAlert