between atoms?

[masonswanson]

DUDE i do not know if this is where im supposed to be at for this but......what is in between the atoms?is it just space?in that case wouldnt there be a pontential vacuum everywhere?

[orbsycli]

wowzers.

[Tormod]

That was a short membership.

[GAHD]

Just so he knows;
Yes, there is space between atoms.

[sanctus]

And no it was in the wrong place, you should have posted it in physics and mathematics.....

[TINNY]

millions and millions of neutrinos between them...

[sanctus]

In QM you can see the electron as a probability wave, thatmeans that at every permitted orbit you have a certain probability to have an electron localized if you mesure it. The further away you the closer the energy levels get.
Now if I remember right you can apply the same reasoning to atoms, that means the the concept between atoms doesn't really have a meaning, they just have a probability to be somewhere (maybe as well delt-dirac like) but if you do not mesure them thay are sort of everywhere, what would imply that there is nothing in between. But now if you mesure their position then yes you got space between.

[sanctus]

Just a test to see if the title change has worked (due to bad language)

[Tormod]

In general the uncertainty principle applies to everything but it is only noticeable for subatomic particles. Single atoms can now be manipulated so they are directly observable (for example with scanning tunneling microscopy).

But there is a semantic problem here. If we ask "is there space between the atoms" and meaning "is there a separation between them" then that would depend on the location of the atoms, so it's not easy to answer. In moledules atoms are tighly bound together.

But what is "space"? If the question is "does space consist of atoms" then the answer is no - between single atoms there is only vacuum. This vacuum however has quantum properties and also consists of huge amounts of cosmic radiation (like Tinny pointed out). So whether it is a true vacuum or not is a difficult thing to answer.

[sanctus]

Originally Posted by Tormod

In general the uncertainty principle applies to everything but it is only noticeable for subatomic particles. Single atoms can now be manipulated so they are directly observable (for example with scanning tunneling microscopy).

Observing them implies mesuring them (by observing them you define their state).

Originally Posted by Tormod

But what is "space"? If the question is "does space consist of atoms" then the answer is no - between single atoms there is only vacuum. This vacuum however has quantum properties and also consists of huge amounts of cosmic radiation (like Tinny pointed out). So whether it is a true vacuum or not is a difficult thing to answer.

There is also the thory about Dirac's sea..., but I do not know enough about that yet. What I sort of understood of it is that vacum isn't actually a vacum, just no exitation whcich would create the particle and his anti-particle.