How big is an atom?

Answer 1

Your average atom is about a one hundred billionth (100,000,000,000)of a metre across. The nucleus of an atom is much smaller on the order of (10-15th power). If you imagine a sphere 100 metres across - and imagine that its an atom - the size of the atomic nucleus would be a milimetre wide. Thats how much empty space there is in everything we see.

Answer 2

It depends on what kind of atom and whether it is bonded chemically to anything else. Ignoring ionic bonding (because they're not atoms, they're ions) Van der Waals bonding will change the shape of the electron distribution function and hence the average size of a particular atom would change. Then of coarse we have the arguement of uncertainty principal: you can never exactly know how large at atom is because the location of the electrons around the atom can never be known exactly. Anyway, I think someone else already gave you the answer I think you were looking for (about an Angstrom) but the 'size of an atom' is very ambiguous!

Answer 3

Although atoms vary in size the difference is not as great as some may imagine so the largest atoms are only a couple of times bigger than the smallest. The size of an atom is in the order of 4 hundred millionths of a metre. ( e.g. sodium is 3.72 hundred millionths ( 3.72 Angstroms)).
The relative difference in size of a football and the size of the Earth is about the same as between an atom and a football.

Answer 4

The size of a nucleus is on the order of 10^-15 or a Fermi while the atom is on the order of 10^-10 or an Angstrom.

Answer 5

It depend on which atom

Hydrogen atom is about 0.5 10^-10 m

look at my link

Answer 6

if you take 350000000 atoms of copper element and arrange them in a row they will cover a distance of only 1mm.So rest u can imagine man.

Answer 7

I know it's smaller than Wyoming.

Answer 8

i know a tom,
he's 6ft 5in.