Answer:
500 m
Explanation:
The size of a nucleus is about
[tex]d=10^{-15} m[/tex]
Instead, the size of the electron cloud extends at the order of
[tex]D=10^{-10}m[/tex]
This means that the ratio between the size of the electron cloud and the size of the nucleus is about
[tex]k=\frac{D}{d}=10,000[/tex]
So, the electron cloud is about 10,000 bigger than the nucleus of the atom.
Here we want to build a scale-model atom, in which the nucleus is the size of a tennis ball, so a size of approximately
[tex]d=5 cm[/tex]
Therefore, since the proportions must be respected, the electron clouds must be 10,000 bigger, so its size in this model would be:
[tex]D=kd=(10,000)(5)=50,000 cm = 500 m[/tex]
So, the size of the electron cloud would be 500 m.
