Are there any gaps between the edges of atoms?

Question

Is all the space on earth and in the sky filled with atoms or are there gaps of nothingness inbetween. I know that atoms are 99.9% nothingness but outside of that is there also nothingness? are atoms perfectly round?

Answer 1

Off course there are gaps. Don't be confused by first two other answers. If there is no gap then can anyone explain me how a solid is compressible. Gases have the largest interatomic/molecular gap followed by liquids and at last solid. But here is gap in solid also. A metal lattice can never have 100% packing efficiency. There is gap between atoms in anything u see in the physical world let it be on earth or not.

No Atoms are not spherical.

Answer 2

The outside of an atom, as it interacts with the rest of the universe, is it's electron shell. That is not a solid shell, but more of a fog of probability on where an electron (or usually multiple electrons) can be.



Since we cannot even ascertain where the electron is at any point, it is obvious it is NOT always anywhere. In fact, the atoms will actually 'share' electrons.



If the electron shell is mostly (almost entirely) empty, and so is the shell of the next atom over, even in the most dense material, it follows that the atoms are not actually touching.



In reality, all that keeps the atoms in 'contact' is their electrical and other forces, but at no time do they really touch anywhere.



Since they don't touch, it follows again, that there is space between them.



QED (without going into quantum physics)

Answer 3

That depends on the state of the matter in question. All atoms are constantly vibrating -- this is called heat and until a substance is brought to the temperature of absolute 0 (0 Kelvin), some thermal energy remains in the substance. (And since no object has ever been brought to 0 Kelvin, all objects have some thermal energy).



In solids, the vibrations are small. Most solids exist either as a crystalline structure in which the electron shells of all of the atoms in the structure are sharing electrons; or they exist as an amorphous solid where each individual molecule is intact with its own electrons but the molecules are packed closely enough together to form a solid. In this case, the molecules are all pretty much in contact with each other (contact in this case being defined as interferences between adjacent electron shells).



In a gas, each individual molecule is free from the other molecules, and travels relatively large distances (on the order of millimeters perhaps) before collisions with other molecules. In this state, there is free space (empty of all matter) between the molecules. This is the space through which the molecules travel between collisions.



In a liquid, the situation is somewhere between the solid and the gas.

Answer 4

atoms are not perfectly round. this is the basic structure of an atom. the protons and neutrons are made of quarks all orbiting eachother. so the nucleus isnt really protons and neutrons, its a giant glob of quarks. the electrons position can never be known, all we can know is a general area where it probably is.



what do you mean outside of the is there also nothingness? the electrons of an atom repel the electrons of another, so they dont overlap (unless the 2 atoms bond).



you can combine a proton and an electron. it happens in stars constantly. a proton and an electron creates a neutron.

Answer 5

No, atoms are not round. In areas in space there are patches where there is nothing, that is what a vacuum is. But, on earth, there is not. The atoms are right up against each other.

Answer 6

OK THERE ARE SOME DECENT ANSWERS HERE BUT NO ONE IS FULLY THERE YET...



since when is a solid more dense than a liquid?



anyone ever compress a liquid? its called hydraulic fluid b/c it WONT compress



solids and gases are compressable, liquids are not...



btw in the "sky" outside the atmosphere in empty space there is actually...nothing....its called a vacuum and most of space is exactly that...

Answer 7

There are definitely gaps! That is why gases can be compressed so easily!



If there were no gaps, pressure would be "hundred percent"!

The reason pressure is very rarely 100% is that there is a partial vacuum.

Answer 8

Lots of space and no boundaries between us and the chairs we sit on.

Consciousness of this is not really encouraged in our 9 to 5 world, shhhhh!

Answer 9

no as if there was gaps between atoms then they would be sperate atom.