• Question: why are atoms so small?

    Asked by to Ian, Edward on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ian Stephenson

      Ian Stephenson answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      It’s all relative. Atoms are small because we’re made of lots of them. Maybe they’re not “small”, maybe they’re normal size, and we’re AMAZINGLY HUGE.

      But basically if you make object A out of millions of object B, then object B is going to look small compared to object A

    • Photo: Edward Hughes

      Edward Hughes answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      The size of atoms comes down to the strengths of the forces that hold them together.

      The nucleus of an atom is bound together by the strong force, which actually gets larger the further you get away. It’s like a big elastic band around the protons and neutrons, confining them into a small space.

      Around the nucleus are shells of electrons. There are held in place due to the electromagnetic force. This gets weaker as you go further away from the nucleus.

      Perhaps you’ll think I’m just passing the buck. After all, why do these forces have the right strengths to make atoms exactly the size we see? String theory is one way people try to answer questions like this. But nobody really knows for definite!

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