how many percent of an atom is empty space?

A hydrogen atom is about 99.9999999999996% empty space. This means that if a hydrogen atom were the size of the earth, the proton at its center would be about 200 meters (600 feet) across. While I wouldn’t want something that big landing on my head, it’s tiny compared to the size of the earth.

The reason why a hydrogen atom is mostly empty space is because the electron that surrounds the nucleus is not a solid particle. It is more like a wave that spreads out over a large area. This means that there is a lot of empty space between the electron and the nucleus.

When I learned of this, I thought of how people have colloquially described God as being “in my heart.” In Malay, the term is in my liver “dalam hati.” In Ancient Greece, they spoke of compassion being in the bowels. “Splankna.”

I surmised that the thing all these had in common in a time before microscopes existed, is that they were trying to express that God is “deep inside, beyond what eye can see.” Well, now we know that deep inside is beyond what eye can see is the interstitial spaces between our atoms. Alton less poetic language, if you say that God lives in the interstitial spaces between your atoms, then you are 99.9999999999996% God.

But that’s an unwieldy number. What if you round it to the closest round number?