Conquer Club

O.K. last year we were in Chemistry talking about repulsion between like particles i.e. electron(negative) repeling other electrons. So this spurred my friend to ask if electrons repel and if they are on the outside of the nuclues and everything is made of atoms would we ever touch anything? or is what we feel just actually the pressure we feel of the atoms repeling? Thought this was a good question to ask.

Technically, no... Atoms don't actually touch, but they come as close to it as anything possibly can.

thats what we finally settled on...but its still wierd.

bspride wrote:O.K. last year we were in Chemistry talking about repulsion between like particles i.e. electron(negative) repeling other electrons. So this spurred my friend to ask if electrons repel and if they are on the outside of the nuclues and everything is made of atoms would we ever touch anything? or is what we feel just actually the pressure we feel of the atoms repeling? Thought this was a good question to ask.

interesting observation. if u look at atoms and intermolecular contacts then probably no . but if u think of intramolecular bonds when 2 electron clouds of atoms overlap then probably yes. also in all chemical and nuclear reactions they most certainly "touch". you get close to matter/energy boundry with this questions - do energies touch? weird definitely.

but i think touch term is used only for macroscopic events so things touch...

weird...

bspride wrote:thats what we finally settled on...but its still wierd.

Not really. It would be like pushing two magnets together with the sides that repel. Two really fucking strong magnets. An atom is surrounded by electrons. Electrons repel each other.

Actually, that's only in nature that that applies. I hope you know that. In something like nuclear physics, it could very well change...

hecter wrote:Actually, that's only in nature that that applies. I hope you know that. In something like nuclear physics, it could very well change...

Yes but most of the public doesnt dwell in nuclear physics.

It wasn't me, I never touched him. It was my electrons, I swear!

A chemistry major could make a good rape argument in court.

Things do not touch. Electomagnetic Force keeps things from touching.

DaGip wrote:Things do not touch. Electomagnetic Force keeps things from touching.

True - even neutrons, which have no electric force behind them, can only be condensed so much. (Neutron star)

Interesting.

The best way to explain this, is to take two magnets and try to push similarly charged sides together (that is positive to positive, or negative to negative)...what happens? They repel eachother.

The same thing happens with atoms. Each atom is surounded by a cloud of electrons...electons have negative charges, so atoms will repel other atoms. That is they do not touch, but Electromagnetic Force keeps them separate.

Does this mean that the only two things that actually touch are neutrons and protons?

fireedud wrote:Does this mean that the only two things that actually touch are neutrons and protons?

I believe that has something to do with the StrongNuclearForce.

But does that mean that protons and neutrons touch?

DaGip wrote:

fireedud wrote:Does this mean that the only two things that actually touch are neutrons and protons?

I believe that has something to do with the StrongNuclearForce.

But does that mean that protons and neutrons touch?

http://aether.lbl.gov/elements/stellar/ ... trong.html

Ah, my subject a la forte.

Yes, t'is true. Every time you sit on a chair, you are not touching it, but are actually hovering above it due to electromagnetic force keeping a gap open between your atoms and the chair's. Technically, you never touch anything in your entire life.

Minister Masket wrote:Ah, my subject a la forte.

Yes, t'is true. Every time you sit on a chair, you are not touching it, but are actually hovering above it due to electromagnetic force keeping a gap open between your atoms and the chair's. Technically, you never touch anything in your entire life.

Not even yourself.

I would say that molecules will touch, but once the pressure is off, the object gets repelled off.

Nuclear fusion. The nuclei of atoms fuse together.

The answer is yes.

unriggable wrote:

Minister Masket wrote:Ah, my subject a la forte.

Yes, t'is true. Every time you sit on a chair, you are not touching it, but are actually hovering above it due to electromagnetic force keeping a gap open between your atoms and the chair's. Technically, you never touch anything in your entire life.

Not even yourself.

You naughty, naughty thang!

Syzygy wrote:Nuclear fusion. The nuclei of atoms fuse together.

yeah but even then, are the neutrons and protons in the nucleus touching? there must be a minimum energy that they have, given they are confined in such a small space i wouldn't be sure they were actually touching.

Jehan wrote:

Syzygy wrote:Nuclear fusion. The nuclei of atoms fuse together.

yeah but even then, are the neutrons and protons in the nucleus touching? there must be a minimum energy that they have, given they are confined in such a small space i wouldn't be sure they were actually touching.

They touch - it's the reason so much energy is required to initiate a fusion reaction.

Edit: I'll find a source to back this up.