So if no atoms are really touching because of their fields, and a knife separates those fields on an atomic level by severing those fields, why can't those things we cut bind themselves back together?
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- bogie [148747] Admin
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Essentially cutting is just smashing things out of the way, you aren't separating the atoms as that would be nuclear fission, so you're pushing the molecules out of the way as you separate them with the cutting implement. The thinner …
Essentially cutting is just smashing things out of the way, you aren't separating the atoms as that would be nuclear fission, so you're pushing the molecules out of the way as you separate them with the cutting implement. The thinner the knife the sharper the edge, but its still basically just a big club as far as atoms are considered.
It really depends what you're "cutting" too, most things are like tangled fibres fairly loosely bonded. Think of something like paper, this is just cellulose fibre and you're basically just disentangling the very short fibres to pry it apart along its air gaps.
Things like metals are a bit different, they're arranged in crystal lattices and you're breaking a few bonds at a molecular level inside those crystals, but not at an atomic level - but only usually at the weakest points (where there are fewer bonds), and its why its harder to cut those in tougher metals or items that are molecularly bonded. Take glass for example, cutting glass precisely is actually really difficult, there are no fibres and few boundaries between these crystals - you usually end up breaking a few bonds until microcracks open up a major defect and it shatters, rather than actually cut it.
why can't those things we cut bind themselves back together?
They actually can, but they cannot in normal circumstances due to the presence of air which gets in the way/oxidizes the exposed areas. It is however a genuine problem in spacecraft - its called cold welding.
check out the big brain on bogie, thats good stuff right there boss.
Oh great Bogie figured out AI lol
Glass is not a polycrystal, it is a non-crystalline amorphous solid.
And cold welding is for materials that exhibit metallic bonding, it works because it is a crystalline structure that repeats indefinitely. While you could bond other things, such as atomic hydrogen, you would be doing a chemical reaction to make molecules, rather than welding things together.
Thanks for the explanation! I didn't consider that the atmosphere itself would be having an affect of the cut material. It makes sense with the paper analogy now that all the available bonds aren't actually open but rather it's a network of them that, as you said, as tangled up. I'm going to have to learn about cold welding, I've always been fascinated by space but most of my knowledge of it comes from Neil Tyson books 📚 and reruns of Cosmos.