Why do atoms become solid when they are made up mostly of empty spaces?
457713
Their electrons essentially occupy the "volume" of the atom. The electrostatic repulsion of the electrons is what makes solid things seem solid. The electrons on the outside of one surface repel the electrons on the outside of another when they come in contact.
587553
It depends on the temperature and pressure.  At standard conditions (atmospheric pressure, room temperature), it's a solid.
1086275
In scientific terms atoms are the smallest possible particle of a chemical element that retains its chemical properties. All atoms are made of the same basic elements, protons, neutrons and electrons , but each of the individual elements are made from different organizations of these materials. The basic structure of an atom is the nucleus, which is made of protons and neutrons (except hydrogen which only has a proton), and the electrons which, to over simplify it, "orbit" the nucleus. Elements are defined however by the number of protons in the nucleus, carbon always has 6 protons in it's nucleus, oxygen always has 8.\n\nAtoms are found EVERYWHERE. Everything you are, the air you breath, the things you smell, are all made of atoms, as others have said, it is the basic building block of everything, literally nothing would exist without them.\n\nIsotopes, contrary to what was said above, are in fact atoms, just a special kind of atom. The have the same amount of protons in their nucleus, hence they stay the same kind of element, but the have a different number of neutrons. I said above that hydrogen doesn't have a neutron in it's nucleus, and a standard hydrogen atom doesn't, but an isotope of hydrogen does, it's called deuterium, and it has 1 proton and 1 neutron in it's nucleus.\n\nDon't feel bad if you don't get it still, it really takes a class in chemistry to really get a handle on what exactly it all means. Good luck.
961628
Two separate questions.  Liquid mercury, for example, contains mercury atoms that are not bonded to each other and are therefore monatomic.  Most metals are also monatomic in solid and liquid state, because heating them will cause them to separate (therefore they have a physical and not a chemical bond).  However, "liquid" and "solid" refer to the interactions between atoms, so you cannot talk about the "form" of a single atom because without other atoms to interact with, there is no meaning to the "liquid" or "solid" terms.
852645
technically, a system that consists of homogeneous atoms or molecules bonded to each other is called a "lattice," or a "crystal lattice."  The difference is that, with a molecule, splitting it or removing components of it would change its chemical properties, whereas with a lattice, splitting it causes no chemical changes and only reduces its size.  Therein lies the difference.
238505
I'm not sure to what extend should I answer this. But just what I have in mind and I think might be related. \n-The molecules within the ball are closely packed together (they interact with one another) ; and this what gives solid their firm/fixed shape.\n-The energy of the molecules is low compared to energy of molecules of liquid or gas.The molecules basically stay fixed on their position and vibrate with minimum amplitude.\n\nThat's mostly about physics for ball. I'll add more if I remember more. Cheers
1134735
Within the first three minutes, matter (in the form of protons and neutrons) were formed and created Hydrogen isotopes.  But the first stable atoms that we usually think of didn't occur until electrons could form.\n\nAround 300,000 years after the big bang the universe had cooled enough to allow atoms to form.  Before this time, the universe was too hot to allow electrons to combine with nuclei.  In this time-frame  the universe was dominated by radiation, whereas now, the universe is dominated by matter.
783753
The atoms increase in size as you move down the group, because each atom has an additional energy level or shell that contains the valence electron.\n\nWhen atom of group one metals form ions, they lose the valence electron, which causes them to decrease in size.\n\nThe smallest ion will be at the top of the column, since it starts out as the smallest atom,  and the largest ion will be at the bottom.
518213
atoms because everything in the world is actually atoms
1175149
A solid, unlike a liquid or a gas, does not take the shape of its container.\nPour some water into a glass and the water takes on the shape of the glass, pour this water onto the floor and now the water has an entirely different shape.  The same goes for gasses.  However, put some solid object in a glass, on the floor, ..., and it still has the same shape.\n\nBoth solids and liquids have definite volumes, unlike gasses.  Solids and liquids are considered "incompressible".  No matter how much you squeeze them, they retain their volume.  Gasses however can be compressed/expanded depending on the force acting on them.
886442
most solids are more dense than the same substance in liquid phase and will sink.  Water/ice is an exception to this rule.
294350
During a supernova, all matter is reduced to its smallest particles.  The smallest being the electrons and Hydrogen ion(H+). At a signifigant distance from "Ground 0," there occures a cooling phenominom that is a naturalphysical event.  Thus heat is an extensive physical property of most matted.  At this point electrons and H+ begin unifying into Hydrogen atoms.  At an even greater point two Hydrogen atoms fuse to product a Helium atom.  So on and so forth.  When these select few elements getr far enough from, "Ground 0" they are cooled to the point that fussion is no longer a natural phenominon.  At this distance in this time, of the story, things like planets, astroids and meteors form in extremely large massed of these elements to form minerals.  When these stellar bodies form H2O (water) they are capable of forming gassious H2O, CO2, H2, O2 and vary importantly C-4.  This place is called Earth any you are there. For further tutorial an planetary evolution e-mail me at melecrs@yahoo.com
35950
Ball and stick - Ball is the atom, stick is the bond to another atom. It's the typcial model one would normally see.\n\nSpace-Filling - Essentially Balls touching eachother, sharing electrons (that's the bond). Best visual of this may be if you imagine a 3D Image of the Olympic Rings. Unlike the Ball and stick model, the space between the atoms is "Filled"
336395
I'm not pretty sure about this but because of the low molecular weight, the attraction between molecules is little and therefore outside forces can easily scatter these molecules troughout space. This results in gas state rather than liquid or solid
275597
because the bond between the molecules of a liquid are weaker  and less, so they can move more freely, and so the liquid takes the shape of it's container, but the ond between the molecules of a solid are more in number and stronger , so they can't move, and they form a dfinite shape.
879527
Inter-atomic fields exist between atoms , and the space between atoms (empty space) is filled with inter-atomic field.\n\nInter-atomic field of body can be repulsive to the inter-atomic field of the chair. Hence we don't fall through the chair
1032403
No because an atom is only a single element and thus such a "universe" would have no chemical composition except for the single atom it would have been made from