Atoms are not mostly empty space, because electrons are not little balls spinning around like planets. Electrons are more like continuous clouds surrounding th

Atoms are not mostly empty space, because electrons are not little balls spinning around like planets. Electrons are more like continuous clouds surrounding the atom. > The picture of an atom being mostly empty stems from the childhood of atomic structure analysis, where most of the atom's extension was found to be transparent for alpha rays, and the early models explained that by pointlike nuclei and electrons. Similarly the picture of a proton or neutron being essentially empty apart from three quarks embedded in it arises because deep inelastic scattering shows that protons are essentially transparent for very energetic electrons, except when the latter meet an almost pointlike quark. But both pictures are quite limited: We don't think glass doesn't occupy space because it is transparent for light. https://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~neum/physfaq/topics/touch.html https://www.mat.univie.ac.at/~neum/physfaq/topics/touch.html