If Matter Is Empty, Why Does It Weigh?

Hello. >> Hey, Yolish. >> Okay, so the world is mostly empty space and atoms are 99.9999% empty space. If that's true, how do things weigh? Why are things heavy? Because weight doesn't come from how full something is. Weight comes from how much energy is in it. Gravity pulls on energy. So the solid stuff that we see isn't really what weighs. >> The structure is real, but most of the weight comes from the energy inside protons and neutrons, not from tiny solid balls of matter. >> Wow. So it's not really the particles is the energy and the forces inside them that way. >> Mostly yes. The particles have some intrinsic mass, but about 99% of the mass of ordinary matter comes from energy, especially the strong force energy inside protons and neutrons. That fits with what Albert Einstein showed. Mass and energy are the same thing. Wow. You told me that if you removed all the empty space, all the matter in the world will fit into something teeny like a teaspoon. That's about volume, not mass. Atoms are mostly empty space, so you can compress them a lot, but the energy inside the particles doesn't disappear. Same mass, just less space. >> So something can be really, really small and be incredibly heavy. >> Exactly. >> Wow. We say by ding that the world is full of Hashem's glory and that there's nothing but him. It's hard to imagine that when we see a world that's all full of things. It's physical. And learning about this gives us a new imagination, new perspective, we can relate to it more that it's really just all Hashem. >> Exactly. What seems solid is really God's energy at work. Visible signs of his glory all around us.