• Question: If you think of atoms does anything in the world then touch each other?

    Asked by anon-267545 on 10 Nov 2020.
    • Photo: Roan Haggar

      Roan Haggar answered on 10 Nov 2020:

      I guess not! When we ‘touch’ something, what we’re actually feeling is atoms repelling each other. For example, if you put your hand on a table, the atoms in the table are pushing away the atoms in your hand. This is why you feel the table pushing back against your hand, and why you can’t just put your hand through a table (unless you’re very strong!). Good question!

    • Photo: Bradley Young

      Bradley Young answered on 11 Nov 2020:

      Sometimes atoms break apart or fuse together, this is how we get nuclear energy.

      Or their electrons can move or escape so that the atoms can conduct electricity or produce light.

    • Photo: Jesse Dykes

      Jesse Dykes answered on 11 Nov 2020:

      It depends what you mean by touch! Take for example your hand touching a table. At the atomic level, there’s a force between your hands and the table, caused by the electrons in your hand repelling the electrons in the table. This is what stops you pushing your hand through the table, even though both it and you are mostly empty space. Does this count as touch?

Comments