Question

How would you describe the range of the radii of most atoms in nanometers (nm)?

Answer 1

Probably off by ONE or TWO orders of magnitude.

Explanation:

The hydrogen atom has a radius of `5.3xx10^(-11)*m`

See this site for data.

Answer 2

Well, I know that atomic radii are in general on the order of `0.500 - 2.00` `Å` or so, which corresponds to `50 - 200` `"pm"` or so. For instance, the atomic radius of scandium is about `"160 pm"`.

In terms of `"nm"`, then, you should get a typical approximate ATOMIC radius of:

`100 cancel"pm" xx cancel"1 m"/(10^12 cancel"pm") xx (10^9 "nm")/cancel("1 m")`

`=` `"0.100 nm"`

Thus, a typical range of ATOMIC radii would be `color(blue)(0.050 - 0.200)` `color(blue)("nm")` or so.