On 12/10/2017 14:23, Bill Gill wrote:
On 10/11/2017 4:35 PM, StarDust wrote:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=....astro.amateur

In reality, we are empty space, pure energy!

Mostly empty space, but the bits which are not do matter.
(pun intended)

We have to eat each other to keep this energy going!

That's if you assume that electrons and nuclei are solid objects.

The nuclei are to a very good approximation tiny and solid hence the big
surprise of Rutherford scattering discovered by Geiger and Marsden.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest...oil_experiment

In reality they are ripples in fields which completely fill the space
they occupy (and quite a bit of the space around the atoms).

Bill

It isn't helpful to claim that particles are really ripples in fields or
vice versa. Depending on how you look at them they can have both
characteristics and the harder you try to look the worse it gets.

That is the awkward uncertainty problem of quantum mechanics.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown