# The space between atoms **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302 "2003-07-18T03:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Second](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Second](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Second)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/1 "2003-07-18T03:10:35Z")
Odd for a lurker like me to post 3 questions in a day. But anyway, what is the space between atoms composed of? Or is it just _nothing_? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/2 "2003-07-18T03:13:58Z")
I think mainly nothing… but according to some theories, gravity/electromagnetic/strong/weak (phew, is there an abbreviation for that?) forces work by exchanging particles like gravitons (I think), among others. I’d say thos particles and nothingness. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/3 "2003-07-18T03:23:08Z")
Virtual particles and the particles that carry fields of force exist everywhere, even between atoms. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/4 "2003-07-18T03:26:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chaoticdonkey \* > \*\*I think mainly nothing… but according to some theories, gravity/electromagnetic/strong/weak (phew, is there an abbreviation for that?) forces work by exchanging particles like gravitons (I think), among others. I’d say thos particles and nothingness. \*\* I think gravitons are ‘virtual’ particles and don’t exist in a literal sense in that you caould grab a bunch and stuff them in a bottle. I think they are used as a useful creation when dealing with quantum mechanics and its ‘quantized’ nature (i.e. forces act via discreet packets of a force carrying particle). I am reasonably certain there is literally nothing between an electron and the nucleus. It is this aspect of nature often used in sci-fi/fantasy to ‘allow’ a character or thing to pass through solid objects as the vast majority of a solid object is empty space. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/5 "2003-07-18T04:09:37Z")
Just don’t say “air,” as a number of my former chemistry students did on a quiz I gave. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/6 "2003-07-18T04:32:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by robby \* > \*\*Just don’t say “air,” as a number of my former chemistry students did on a quiz I gave. :smack: \*\* How old were they? 7? ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/7 "2003-07-18T04:45:17Z")
> [@](#): > > I think gravitons are ‘virtual’ particles and don’t exist in a literal sense in that you caould grab a bunch and stuff them in a bottle. I think they are used as a useful creation when dealing with quantum mechanics and its ‘quantized’ nature (i.e. forces act via discreet packets of a force carrying particle). I thought that graviton theoretically existed the same way as the photon. Were the photon is the force particle of the electromagnetic force, the graviton is the force particle of gravity. The other force particles being the gluon (strong nuclear) and weak gauge bosons (weak nuclear). All these particles are massless (except the bosons) but are real, not virtual, particles. However, I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Eli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@Eli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eli)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/8 "2003-07-18T08:29:20Z")
A slight threadjack : If the photon is the force particle of the EM force… Does it mean that if I have two charged balls at some distance from each other then there are lots of photons going between them and causing the attraction(or rejection)? ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/9 "2003-07-18T09:33:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eli \* > \*\*A slight threadjack : > If the photon is the force particle of the EM force… Does it mean that if I have two charged balls at some distance from each other then there are lots of photons going between them and causing the attraction(or rejection)? \*\* No, phtons are not generated by a static electric field, they are generated by a moving electric field. Yes Gravitons are meat to be virtual particles, don’t ask me too much 'bout them though. The space in between atoms is composed of space and all the stuff that goes with that (virtual particles, em fields, gravitational fields and the like). ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/10 "2003-07-18T09:39:20Z")
I may be totally wrong here ( so hopefully someone will correct me if I am), we can’t know if any point in space is empty. There is no way to observe a point in space without distrubing it. ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/11 "2003-07-18T09:41:16Z")
Also I’m sure if empty have any meaning at the quantum level. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/12 "2003-07-18T09:52:12Z")
Yes your just about right **Major Kong** , virtual particles come from the fact that Heisenburg’s uncertainty principle means that the law of conservation of mass and energy can be broken by amount ΔE for time Δt where ΔEΔt ≤ h/4Ï€ which means a vaccuum cannot be said to be empty. ---
**Author:** ![Planet\_of\_the\_Shapes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Planet\_of\_the\_Shapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Planet_of_the_Shapes)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/13 "2003-07-18T11:17:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Ceremonies \* > \*\*No, phtons are not generated by a static electric field, they are generated by a moving electric field. > > Yes Gravitons are meat to be virtual particles, don’t ask me too much 'bout them though. > > The space in between atoms is composed of space and all the stuff that goes with that (virtual particles, em fields, gravitational fields and the like). \*\* But are virtual photons generated? What “carrys” the magnetic repulsion/attraction? ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-space-between-atoms/189302/14 "2003-07-18T11:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Planet of the Shapes \* > \*\*But are virtual photons generated? What “carrys” the magnetic repulsion/attraction? \*\* Yep, static em-fields generate virtual photons.