How big would an atom be, if its nucleus was the size of a football?

July 21, 2019

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The atom is the smallest constituent of matter that has the properties of a chemical element. On average, the diameter of an atom is about 100 pm (pm is for picometer; 1 pm is 0,000 000 000 001 m). In meters it is about: $1*10^{-10} m$ , while in millimeters $1*10^{-7} mm$ , which means that the diameter of an atom is the ten-millionth of a millimeter.

To get an idea of really great or really short lengths, we must compare them with mundane things, the sizes of which we know. For example: the diameter of a human hair is around $100 \mu m$ , or $1*10^{-4} m$ . So, within a diameter of human hair we can range around 1 million atoms.

What about the nucleus of the atom? The diameter of the nucleus is in the range of $1,756*10^{-15} m$ for hydrogen (the diameter of a single proton) to about $11,714*10^{-15} m$ for the heaviest atom uranium.

If we consider that the diameter of a football is 0,22 m, then for the nucleus to reach the football’s size it must grow $10^{15}$ times. When the atom grows that much, then it would have a diameter of about $10^{5} m$ ; which in kilometers would be 100 km. So, if the nucleus of an atom was the size of a football, then the atom would be roughly as great as Connecticut (USA).