how small is an atom???

Question

please give me comparisons or measurements.... anything, thanks

Answer 1

From 0.1-0.4 nanometers usually.
that is 1 * 10^-10 meters to 4 * 10^-10 meters

Answer 2

the first answerer, haxxormastor's got it right.

from Wikipedia:

"Since the electron cloud does not have a sharp cutoff, the size of an atom is not easily defined. In many conditions it is the electron cloud which gives atoms their effective "size," by the act of excluding the electron clouds of other atoms. For atoms that can form solid crystal lattices, the distance between the centers of adjacent atoms can be easily determined by x-ray diffraction, giving an estimate of the atoms' size on the basis of interactions with other atoms. For single atoms, a size estimate might use the radius at which the electrons of the valence shell are most likely to be found, since these are the electrons which interact with other atoms. As an example, the size of a hydrogen atom is estimated to be approximately 1.06×10-10 m (twice the Bohr radius, which in turn is half the van der Waals radius-- these measures are necessarily approximate because of the diffuse nature of the electron cloud). Compare this to the size of the proton (the only particle in the nucleus of the hydrogen atom), which is approximately 10-15 m. Thus the ratio of the size of the hydrogen atom to its nucleus is about 100,000:1. If an atom were the size of a stadium, the nucleus would be the size of a marble. If an atom were the size of the Earth, an electron would certainly be less than 10 cm in size, and might have no size at all (electrons are less than 10-18 m in radius and may be point-particles)."

"Atoms of different elements do vary in effective size, but the sizes (volumes) do not scale well with the mass of the atom. Heavier atoms do tend generally to be more dense. The diameters of atoms are roughly the same to within a factor of less than three for the heavier atoms, and the most noticeable effect on size with atomic mass is a reverse one: atomic size actually shrinks with increasing mass in each periodic table row [2]. The reason for these effects is that heavy elements have large positive charge on their nuclei, which strongly attract the electrons to the center of the atom. This contracts the size of the electron shells, so that more electrons may fit into a smaller volume. These effects may be striking: for example, atoms of the densest element iridium (atomic weight about 192) are about the same size as aluminum atoms (atomic weight about 27), and this weight ratio of about seven for the individual atoms, is the major factor in the density ratio of more than eight between the two metals."

Answer 3

As a comparison, the period on this page is about 1/5th of a millimeter. Given an atom of 0.1 nanometers (the units used today), you could line up
2 million atoms on the period diameter.

Answer 4

well hows this to start...if i made an atom the same size as a lecture hall or something like that, the orbits of the electrons would be about as wide as the whole room, and in comparison the size of the nucleus would be around the size of a grain of sand in the middle of the room. and then we go to this comparison...a human hair is about 1 million carbon atoms wide or so...

Answer 5

Imagine for a moment that we take an Orange - the kind you eat.
In order for us to see the atoms in the orange it is necessary to enlarge the Orange until it is the size of the Earth (roughly 26,000 miles in Diameter) at that point we can see the individual atoms of the Orange - each is about the size of a Cherry.

Now lets expand that again, to look inside the Atom for its componenets. In the center of our atom is a tiny nucleus about the size of a grain of sand - and out there, about two miles away are theelectrons - so tiny that even at this scale they cannot be seen.

Hope that helps.

Answer 6

If you could enlarge an atom to the size of a major league football stadium, the nucleus would be about the size of a grain of sand on the 50 yard line and the electrons would be rotating around it at the very farthest edge of the stadium.

Answer 7

The atomic weight of Iron is about 56. Therefore one atom of iron would weigh about .00000000000000000000001 grams. that is a 1 preceded by 21 0's My fist is about the size of 2000 grams of iron.

Answer 8

There are probably hundreds of thousands to millions of atoms on the tips of a pin, that is how small they are.

Answer 9

In one second your fingernail will grow approximately the width of 100 atoms.

Answer 10

Well its microscopic so I dont think you can put a ruler up to one.You have around some billion/trillion in your body.