From electrons to atoms to the world around us.
Three reasons
Electrons can seem very far removed from our everyday lives. They are unimaginably small, yet they are constantly at work in the molecules that make up our bodies and everything around us.
So why should we care about them? Here are three reasons.
There are vast numbers of very small things
It is hard enough to imagine the immensity of our planet, let alone the universe - with trillions of galaxies.
But the opposite end of the scale is just as astonishing.
Our bodies contain trillions of cells. Each cell contains enormous numbers of proteins and other molecules. A single DNA molecule can contain billions of atoms.
And then there is water. A typical cell may contain tens of trillions of water molecules packed into a space far too small for us to see.
The microscopic world is not sparsely populated. It is extraordinarily crowded.
Yet each electron has an enormous amount of space
You might imagine that electrons would stay as close to the nucleus as possible. But an atom is mostly empty space.
The nucleus is extraordinarily dense and occupies only a tiny fraction of the atom. The electrons occupy the much larger space around it.
Imagine a grain of sand occupying an entire stretch of seashore.
Or picture a tiny gnat fluttering around one room of your house. Compared with the gnat itself, the room is enormous.
That gives us at least a feeling for the scale of the space available to an electron.
Small interactions build large things
An individual electron is unimaginably small. But electrons determine how atoms interact with one another.
Take two hydrogen atoms. Each becomes more stable when its electron can be shared with the other hydrogen. That shared electron space creates a chemical bond.
It is a little like two children sharing one toy, with neither wanting to give it up completely.
Now multiply interactions like that by the staggering number of atoms and molecules around us. Tiny electrical interactions become chemical bonds. Bonds build molecules. Molecules build larger structures.
And eventually those structures become the matter we can see and touch.
What's in it for us?
Why am I writing about this?
Partly because I wanted a more tangible way to understand where electrons fit into the scheme of things.
They are unimaginably small. They occupy an enormous space compared with their own size. Yet their interactions determine how atoms join together.
Electrons lead to bonds. Bonds lead to molecules. Molecules lead to structures. And structures build the world around us.
And from those same small beginnings come planets, stars, and the universe we see.
AI assistance note: I used ChatGPT as an editing partner while developing this post. The thinking and original draft (and any remaining errors) are my own.
Image Credit: Generated with ChatGPT, September 2026.