Physics

Atoms are composed of protons, Nutrons and electrons in different proportions. What matter are we standing on? This Question first occurred to me in high school. Are we standing on the whole atom or the huge spaces between the atoms or the proton or Nutron or Electron.

Reply 1

MouldyVinegar

The answer is we aren't standing on anything, or more precisely, we are not in direct contact with any atoms; we are in fact ever so slightly hovering above the atoms. You might know that atoms are mostly empty space. Going off a cursory google search, they are about 99.9999999999996% "empty" space. Of course, the question arises: if they are mostly empty space how do we not fall through them?

The reason is due to the electrostatic forces between the atoms. Like how it is difficult to get magnets of the same polarity close to one another, so too is it difficult to get two atoms touching because the nuclei have the same charges (but this is much, MUCH stronger than a magnet. You would need extreme environments like being inside a star to get them close enough to "touch", or fuse together). Therefore, neighbouring atoms are never in direct contact with one another, and as such you never actually touch the floor or your clothes or anything else. You only feel the repulsive force.

Another question you may have is how the nuclei still stays intact, as the protons have the same charge so it would seem they would repel each other. The answer to this is there is another force called the strong force. It is strong enough to overcome the electrostatic repulsion between the protons. However, it has a very short range so it does not attract say neighbouring atoms, whilst the electrostatic force has an infinite range so it can repel neighbouring atoms.

You should also bear in mind that I'm not a physicist, and I am simplifying some of these topics simply because I don't know enough about them. If you are curious, then you should consider searching it up some more.