As said by Christopher Baird, Associate Professor of Physics at West Texas A&M University, in his communication to Live Science, touching on the atomic degree just isn’t the identical as in on a regular basis expertise. Atoms lack distinct outer surfaces, not like the objects they kind. Descriptions of “touching” should account for the overlapping of electron orbitals, which alerts the start of bodily or chemical results.
The Structure of Atoms and Their Boundaries
Atoms are composed of a nucleus, containing protons and neutrons, surrounded by an electron cloud. Sources point out that this cloud complicates any try to determine a transparent boundary for an atom. Reports describe the touching of atoms as an interplay the place electron orbitals overlap sufficiently to create bonds or set off different results.
Chemical bonds sometimes signify atomic contact in solids and liquids, as outlined in varied scientific research. Gases, in distinction, expertise atomic interactions by means of collisions the place particles bounce off each other.
Interactions in High-Energy Conditions
It has been reported that excessive vitality ranges, comparable to these seen in particle accelerators like CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, permit for distinctive varieties of atomic interactions. Zhiquan Sun, a doctoral candidate at MIT’s Centre for Theoretical Physics, defined that collisions in such situations contain overlapping electron clouds.
This can result in elastic interactions, the place atoms preserve their identification, or inelastic collisions, the place atoms break into smaller particles and kind solely new nuclei. While atoms might not “contact” within the human sense, their interactions create the bonds and forces that maintain matter collectively, shaping the world we see and expertise each day.
