• Question: Do atoms touch

    Asked by anon-190774 to Matt, Maia, Lyndsay, Liam, Dionne, Brendan on 8 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Maia Elliott

      Maia Elliott answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      Hey Norman!
      An atom is made up of a nucleus and little electrons the spin around them! The nucleus of two atoms won’t touch unless they are fusing. This requires A LOT of energy, and happens in the sun when two Hydrogen atoms combine (fuse together) to form a Helium atom. The electrons of atoms never touch because they repel each other.

    • Photo: Matt Bower

      Matt Bower answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      I agree with Maia. Atoms themselves are made up of even smaller particles and most of an atom is actually space! Sometimes atoms form things called bonds that join them together, but there’s still plenty of space in there.

    • Photo: Brendan Marrinan

      Brendan Marrinan answered on 9 Nov 2018:

      Good answers from Matt and Maia. Atoms are absolutely tiny and by forming bonds and lattices are able to create solid objects, but they never touch. It’s really impressive when you think about it.

    • Photo: Dionne Turnbull

      Dionne Turnbull answered on 13 Nov 2018:

      Nicely answered by the other scientists! They don’t occupy the same space… but they have such a strong influence on each other that you could think of it as touching without actually touching! This stuff blows my mind! 😀

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