# If You Took Out All The Empty Space Between The Atoms That Make Up A Person **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 20, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385 "2023-03-20T00:18:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/1 "2023-03-20T00:18:39Z")
[According to the intrawebs,](https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/can-the-entire-human-race-fit-inside-a-sugar-cube.html) “If You Took Out All The Empty Space Between The Atoms That Make Up A Person, The Entire Human Race Would Fit Into A Container The Size Of A Sugar Cube” Googling sort of confirmed it, and I don’t have any reason to doubt it nessasarily but, wow, that’s kind of mind-blowing if true! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/2 "2023-03-20T00:21:42Z")
Daddy, what’s a sugar cube? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/3 "2023-03-20T00:23:15Z")
“Well, son, it’s a … Whooaaah! Look at all those colors…!” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/4 "2023-03-20T00:32:23Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > “If You Took Out All The Empty Space Between The Atoms That Make Up A Person, The Entire Human Race Would Fit Into A Container The Size Of A Sugar Cube” This is clearly not true, because everyone except that person would still be the same size. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/5 "2023-03-20T00:40:04Z")
It’s not true, anyway. All that “empty space” isn’t empty. It’s full of fields. That might seem like nitpicking, but the particles that the “empty” space is in between are also just fields, and there’s no reason to say one sort of field counts and the other doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/6 "2023-03-20T00:53:47Z")
[**Why can’t my hand go through my desk? (physics question)**](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-my-hand-go-through-my-desk-physics-question/286835) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/7 "2023-03-20T00:56:23Z")
I guess a reasonable way to interpret this is to imagine the entire human race compressed to the density of a neutron star, which is more meaningful than “removing the space between the atoms”. The weight of the total human population is, apparently, 316 million tons (at least it was in [2013](https://www.livescience.com/36470-human-population-weight.html)). Compressed to neutron star density (1017 kg/m3), that would be about 3 cubic centimeters, so yeah, about the size of a sugar cube. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/8 "2023-03-20T00:57:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > there’s no reason to say one sort of field counts and the other doesn’t I guess a meaningful thing you could say is to ask about actual states of matter, like what would volume would the mass of the human race take up if we were squished to the density of a neutron star. With these numbers: 8 x 109 people 70kg per person 5 x 1017 kg/m3 density I get 1cm3, exactly 1 sugar cube [ETA: ninjaed, but my estimate came out to exactly one sugar cube!] ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/9 "2023-03-20T01:00:39Z")
Eh, I think your value for neutron star density is a bit better than mine, so I’ll take your 1 cc sugar cube over my jumbo size 3 cc sugar cube. BTW, I just want to go on the record to say that I do not approve of doing this experiment in real life. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/10 "2023-03-20T01:05:45Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > BTW, I just want to go on the record to say that I do not approve of doing this experiment in real life. If you removed the blood vessels from every living human- there would no longer be any living humans. On another note, I remember once reading “If compressed to the density of a neutron star, the Great Lakes would fit in your bathroom sink- which would immediately rip itself off the wall and fall unimpeded to the earth’s core.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/11 "2023-03-20T01:14:20Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > BTW, I just want to go on the record to say that I do not approve of doing this experiment in real life. How about doing it to a mole of moles? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/12 "2023-03-20T01:15:18Z")
Like [this](https://what-if.xkcd.com/4/)? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/13 "2023-03-20T01:18:13Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > “If compressed to the density of a neutron star, the Great Lakes would fit in your bathroom sink- which would immediately rip itself off the wall and fall unimpeded to the earth’s core.” Slight nitpick, if the neutron-Great-Lakes are going to fall unimpeded to the earth’s core, wouldn’t they also fall unimpeded through the bathroom sink, rather than taking it along for the ride? ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/14 "2023-03-20T01:40:21Z")
In the absence of some kind of magic holding the material at that density, I think rather than falling, it would explode out to the density of normal matter. I’m having a hard time visualizing what it would be like for the Great Lakes to suddenly appear inside my house, but I don’t think it would be good for property values in the whole neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/15 "2023-03-20T01:41:12Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I guess a meaningful thing you could say is to ask about actual states of matter, like what would volume would the mass of the human race take up if we were squished to the density of a neutron star. That doesn’t seem right, but I guess it depends on what one means by “taking out all the empty space between atoms”. The nominal size of the electron shells forming a typical atom is about 100,000 times bigger than its nucleus. In a neutron star, there are no atoms – the electrons shells have disappeared, electrons and protons have combined to form neutrons, and the neutron star is essentially comprised entirely of packed neutrons, or IOW essentially the nuclei of the original atoms. So wouldn’t it be about 100,000 times smaller and denser than the theoretical scenario of the original atoms packed close together, if such a thing were possible? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/16 "2023-03-20T01:49:16Z")
Cube that number, because atoms are three-dimensional. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/17 "2023-03-20T02:00:33Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > > [@Riemann](#): > > > > I guess a meaningful thing you could say is to ask about actual states of matter, like what would volume would the mass of the human race take up if we were squished to the density of a neutron star. > > That doesn’t seem right Never mind. The OP’s headline – “If You Took Out All The Empty Space Between The Atoms …” misstated the article’s premise, which was actually “…atoms have a lot of vacant space inside them. If we remove all the empty space from all the atoms…”. So the neutron star calculation was correct. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/18 "2023-03-20T02:11:52Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The OP’s headline – “If You Took Out All The Empty Space Between The Atoms …” misstated the article’s premise, which was actually “…atoms have a lot of vacant space inside them. If we remove all the empty space from all the atoms…”. So the neutron star calculation was correct. Ah, now that does make sense. Because I’d imagine removing just the space _between_ the atoms but retaining their integrity would take you to some condition akin to white dwarf density. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/19 "2023-03-20T02:57:47Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The OP’s headline – “If You Took Out All The Empty Space Between The Atoms …” misstated the article’s premise I read several articles that stated essentially the same thing. I just copy and pasted that sentence from one of the article’s lede. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385/20 "2023-03-20T03:11:21Z")
No worries, I was just initially mystified by the neutron star calculations, so just clarifying what the premise was. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-took-out-all-the-empty-space-between-the-atoms-that-make-up-a-person/981385.md?page=2)