Well as at least 50% of the blogs out there, this one began and died out shortly afterward. I'm hoping to change that with a new hobby of mine: Fun Physics Fact Fridays. And yes, I know that today is sunday, but I had originally come up with this particular fact 2 days ago.
This time I worked out, using some classical particle mechanics and math to discover the proportional size of a single electron within an atom. After a little thought and calculations I have come to conclusion that if a Hydrogen atom was blown up to be the size of the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, the single electron within that atom would be the size of a #2 pencil eraser!
Furthermore, 99.9% of an atom is pure, empty, space without any matter present at all. A frequent question is "then how come atoms don't fall within each other and collapse?" The answer is due to electrodynamics. The electrons that orbit the nucleus in atoms orbit so quickly that there appears to be just a sphere surrounding the nucleus instead of individual electrons. This is called the electron cloud. Every atom has one. Now electrons have a net negative charge and in electrodynamics, if two charges are similar (e.g. 2 negatives) they will repel away from each other. And this force used to repel atoms is so strong that the atoms and molecules never really touch each other. And on a macro scale, neither do you, since all of the electrons within your hand are repelled from the electrons in what you're "touching", you aren't actually touching the keyboard, the glass of water just before bed, or even the ground.
Well that appears to be all for this weeks physics friday! If you have any questions - I'd be happy to answer them.
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