If all matter is made up of smaller particles with space in between, what actually is matter?

matter as we experience it everyday is as has been nicly put an illusion, so when you hit your head, don't worry, it was all an illusion.

Energy, that stuff we generally can't define except in the abstract is the real stuff of the universe, matter is just the bit of energy rolled up tight in such a manner as to give the illusion of being solid/liquid or gas. As has been said, atoms are just made of smaller particles with lots of empty space between. the solid feel of a brick is all due to the high strength of electric fields. Even the protons and neutrons are not solid, but again made of smaller bits held together by nuclear forces. But probe even these particles and the whole meaning of size becomes obscure. They talk of mass, but that depends on how fast the bit is going, so in the end the most appropriate way to size the particles is by how much energy they represent. dissect things enough and everything is just so much energy bundled in various forms.

When you touch your computer keyboard you feel it, because of the repulsive forces of the electrons on your skin (in the atoms that make up the molecules that make up your skin cells) repel like charged electrons in the atoms on the surface of the keys on the keyboard. If you could look close enough you would see that actually no physical contact was being made. Indeed the concept of physical contact is flawed, unless you are talking nuclear reactions, particles never get close enough to each other to say they have touched. In chemical reactions the electron probability clouds intermingle, but the electron never touch.

When no chemical reaction occurs, even the probability clouds don't touch.

Simple answer, but difficult to grasp the reality.

In very simple terms atoms consist of a nucleus consisting of particles called protons and neutrons. This has the bulk of the weight of an atom. This is surrounded by a shell of much smaller particles called electrons which circulate around the nucleus. A crude analogy is the circulation of the planets around the sun.

The relative separation distance of the nucleus and the electrons is very large. It has been estimated that for the hydrogen atom, the smallest of all the atoms, if the nucleus were enlarged to the size of a football and located in London then the electron would be somewhere around Johannesburg. This means that the atom is almost entirely empty space! A difficult concept to accept.

There are forces which at very small distancess can cause the parts of atoms to stick together. These form the nucleus of the atom. So the nucleus is in the form of what might be termed 'solid' material.

Nearby there is an area of electrons which are in a state of attraction to the positively charged parts in the nucleus. The electrons have the ability to move easily from one atom to another, and provide the characteristic chemical properties of the atom.

;-D When it all comes down to it though, it is all made of energy, according to Mr. Einstein.

count at its straight forward form is power, however the clarification why we see it they way we do is partly because of the way our eyes developed. Our eyes know a very skinny area of wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum. in actuality, maximum folk of light we can't see. Having reported that, we see count because of the fact electrons emit gentle based on how they're interacting with different debris. Our eyes can't see empty area, besides the reality that it does exist inbetween atoms. so a techniques as black holes pass, the clarification why they exist is because of the fact the situation is so dense that the gravity will overpower the forces conserving the neutrons, protons, and electrons, of their contemporary state of count. so a techniques as all of us be attentive to, the actual states of those debris will then disappear on a similar time as the mass will stay. stable count in they way you're finding at it is no longer very stable in any respect. maximum folk of an atom is empty area. think of of a baseball diamond. A blade of grass interior the middle is the nucleus, on a similar time as the excellent field is the electron cloud. Black holes in a manner due have a volume. the form horizon is the line the place no count can escape and could be inevitably sucked into the black hollow. that's extremely small while in comparison with the mass. An occasion: A black hollow with the mass of our solar has an adventure horizon of roughly 3 miles. photograph a grain of sand while in comparison with our Earth, it is the ratio of length.

Matter is an illusion. Everything is made of energy behaving in a particular way. You think that brick wall is solid, but the impact when you bang your head against it is all down to reactive energy preventing the energy that makes up your skull from coming any closer.

Walaka is right. If it feels like matter then it is matter. The electrons don't let other electrons near them (Pauli exclusion principle and electrostatic repulsion) so when you get near some matter ("touching") it won't let your fingers get nearer and it feels hard. Really it's mainly just space as you said but you can't get your own atoms into it.

Kind of stupid analogy but think of everything and everyone as a bunch legos. The smaller and smaller you look you find smaller "legos". Currently quarks are about as far down as we can go or theorize. So we are just a bunch of quarks held together by weak and strong nuclear forces.

matter is the objective reality, which is given in our senses and is reflected by them. it consist of most of the observable universe.

you should know that there is no broad consensus as to an exact definition of matter.

matter is something that has mass and occupies space.the inter molecular space is different in different types of matter.....

1)solid-least inter molecular space

2)liquid-a little loosely packed

1)gas-most inter molecular space

"Frozen energy" is occasionally used, and is a fairly accurate but concise description.