The atomic physics behind touch PDF

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Summary

This explains the atomic interactions that prevents contact forces from being true contact forces lmao...

Description

Integral to the definition of contact forces is the idea of touch. Interestingly, what touch actually is greatly contradicts our preconceptions. Touch can be best explained at the atomic scale. To give a very quick reminder of the structure of an atom, the basic idea is that you have a nucleus with an electron cloud around it. Keep in mind the actual structure of an atom is more complex than this. The important thing about the electron cloud is that it is negatively charged and that it is on the outside of the atom. This means that if two atoms were coming close together, the things that would be closest together would be electron clouds. It is common knowledge that if two particles share the same charge, they will repel one another. Thus, atoms technically repel one another and it is impossible for them to touch one another. What we consider to be texture or how things feel is actually your nerves feeling the electro-magnetic repulsion forces between atoms. So contact forces are actually not really “contact” forces. Interesting....