• brachypelmide@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    17 hours ago

    with A4’s divide-by-two shtick an A85 might unironically have a surface area of only like a couple atoms. it’s too late in the night for me to calculate this so i pass this task onto someone else

    • Pelicanen@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      9 hours ago

      So, A0 has an area of 1 m2 and it’s halved for each next one in the series, giving A85 a surface area of 1/(285) m2 = 2.585×10-26 m2 = 0.02585 pm2.

      The smallest atom is the hydrogen atom with a Van der Waals radius of 120 pm which gives it a surface area of 4×π×1202 pm2 = 180956 pm2 or just over 7 million times larger than the A85.