What makes our desk "solid"? Quantum Physics ?

[mukiwa]

What makes our desk "solid" ? What makes anything solid ? Nothing is solid in so subatomic level. Yeah we have these atoms that are what ? they are not things, they are tendencies of hollow emtry regions of space ? with a dense nucleus in the middle while these electrons are, so called "orbiting" arout it ? even though it is just a probability patters ? that they are there but then they are gone ? where did they go ? and so does the nucleus go in and out of igsistance, so what happens to it ?
So then with all these EMPTY regions of space, why is our desk solid ?
Do any of you think about this stuff or I am just a dumb kid that shouldn't care ?
I watched the movie called "What the bleed do we know" that got me thinking about what reality is and quantum physics.
To me it makes sense saying that it is our conshusness that makes our so called reality solid. To our mind it is there and we don't have to think about it, but we should.
Any thoughts or what ?

 

[dogstar]

I didnt know that they go away ! maybe if you split one. haha, we all go away.
Quantum Physics is just beginning and many dont want to hear about it and try to turn it into a religious debate, ect. Its alot over my head anyway when talking about, so I want act like I know, but Im very intrested in the way God designed things.

 

[37g joe]

in quantum Phisics all the rules are thrown out. string therory is so crazy even the scientist who theroised it dont understand it. Light reacts as partical and wave lenghts at the same time. in therory Gravity goes between Dimensions and that by using Gravitons it is possible to creat a true worm hole . Now the worm hole would be to small for a human to cross through but information could. Also Cern Labitoris right now is creating antimater and using it in experments if enough was created it could be used to destroy a star or provide limitless energy. But right now the ammount of energy they need to create even the smalest amounts of anti mater exceeds the amount given off.

 

[squidd]

It's all about relative temperature...IMO

 

[dogstar]

Donuts collideing with pancakes befor the big bang but what about the big bang that cooked them up. How do you get something from nothing. Lets think of a therory and call it a fact untill something makes it wrong and then scratch our heads and think up another fact. My head hurts....

 

[lovethesea]

not sure about it, but Matrix keeps coming to mind ***)

 

[molamola]

That's pretty deep, but until I can walk through a wall, or fall into the center of the earth when I step outside, I'm not going to think about it too much because I prefer to think about things like, what's for lunch, what's for dinner, and when's breakfast?

 

[jdragunas]

if you stand against a wall for something like 10,000 years, you'll be able to go right through it... that's how long it would take for the atoms in your body to be able to mesh with the atoms in the wall... hehehe
and to answer the question... desks are solid not because they have no 'space', but because they meet the criteria of a solid matter:
A solid is a phase of matter characterized by resistance to deformation and to changes of volume.
At the microscopic scale, a solid has these properties:
The atoms or molecules that comprise the solid are packed close together.
These constituent elements have fixed positions in space relative to each other. This accounts for the solid's rigidity.
If sufficient force is applied, either of these properties can be violated, causing permanent deformation.
Because any solid has some thermal energy, its atoms vibrate. However, this movement is very small and very rapid, and cannot be observed under ordinary conditions.

 

[squidd]

The atoms or molecules that comprise the solid are packed close together.
These constituent elements have fixed positions in space relative to each other. This accounts for the solid's rigidity.
If sufficient force is applied, either of these properties can be violated, causing permanent deformation.
Because any solid has some thermal energy, its atoms vibrate. However, this movement is very small and very rapid, and cannot be observed under ordinary conditions.
Like I said...It's all about relative temp..

 

[phixer]

String theory explains it all. Google professor Michio Kaku, very interesting stuff. The desk appears solid because the molecules are packed together more densly (spelling ?) Remeber positive and negative electrons attract each other. I'll leave it at that because Im no expert when it comes to physics, Im still learning.

 

[socal57che]

Hey Mukiwa...........HOW'S PHIL???????????????????
you prolly get that alot, eh?
We once lived in Mt Joy down by Lancaster.
We now return to Physics 101

 

[celacanthr]

But what holds these atoms togethor? Why do my fingers not stick to the keyboard? they are both made of atoms? All atoms have the same parts.

 

[mukiwa]

"........The atoms or molecules that comprise the solid are packed close together.
These constituent elements have fixed positions in space relative to each other. This accounts for the solid's rigidity. ......."
But the ARE NOT in a fixed area or space, as you would say. Teachers teach us that electrons are in a fixed area and they orbit the nucleus but they DON"T ! these electrons are only probabilty patterns.... which mean what ? which means that they are there but then they arn't, they go in and out of igsistance. You can't say exactly where they are. You can only say that they should be in these certain places more often or less . Now this to me is mindboggling.......
And what is reality ? if you someone to look at a specific object, lets say, certain parts in their brain will react and will "read" this object or light up. Now if you ask the same person to THINK about this object that they just saw in thier mind only, while thier eyes are closed, the SAME parts of thier brain will "read" or light up. Now what does this mean ? It asks the question "What is reality"? So what is it ? It is this word all around us that we see ? or is it in our mind ? This also relates to manifestation(sp?). And to many manifestation is not even in thier vocabulary, but science does contradict religon.
:thinking:

 

[squidd]

People that run elevated temps tend to have more manifestations....
All part of my theory on relative temp...

 

[jdragunas]

Originally Posted by CELACANTHr
But what holds these atoms togethor? Why do my fingers not stick to the keyboard? they are both made of atoms? All atoms have the same parts.
but the molecules and atoms are packed so tightly, and therefore don't 'stick' to you... however, your body absorbs water because it is a liquid. If you turn your desk into a liquid (dunno how you would do that...), and you were to stick your finger in it, it would stick to you, and your body would begin to absorb it... that's why you can get lead poisoning, mercury poisoning, etc...

 

[flyingmonkey45]

i hate to frankenpost, especially on a thread this old, but this is just so full of wrong and it's one of the first results on google when you search for "what makes things solid" so i'm going to set the record straight.
an atom is mostly empty space. if an atom were the size of a football field, the nucleus would be the size of the tip of a pen. the electrons are about 1,000 times smaller than a proton which is one of two things that make up the nucleus. probably only a trillionth of the space in an atom is actually being used. so imagine that you are walking through this football field with anywhere from 1 to 118 pen tips flying around everywhere. pretty easy to just walk right through, right? this is not all there it to it. now imagine that you are the size of one of these pen tips, though, and both you and the pen tips have very powerful negative charges so are both repelling each other. then you would have a problem. when you are sitting in a chair, you don't actually touch the chair. you hover above it because the electrons in your body push against the electrons in the chair. this is what makes things solid.
to understand why your hand doesn't stick to you keyboard, you have to understand why and how atoms combine. each atom has electrons revolving around it. the number varies depending on the element. there are different levels of electrons, too. the inner most level can only contain up to two electrons. all of the other levels can contain up to 8. in order for the next row to begin being filled, the previous one must be full. now lets look at a water molecule. two hydrogen, one oxygen. a hydrogen atom has one electron, an oxygen atom has eight. because the first level of electrons only contains two, the hydrogen atoms have one empty slot. oxygen atoms have two atoms in the first row and six in the second, leaving two empty slots. when a molecule is formed, the atoms involved share electrons. in a water molecule, the oxygen atom's two empty slots are filled by the one electron in each hydrogen atom. it isn't possible for a molecule like fluorous oxide to exist because fluorine has 6 electrons in the outer layer and oxygen has six. because only the outer layer can share electrons and 5 + 6 is more than can fit in the outer layer (8) they can't combine.
i hope i've answered all of the questions, and in reference to squidd, it has nothing to do with heat.

 

[meowzer]

Who cares????

 

[flyingmonkey45]

Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3158549
Who cares????

anybody who googles "what makes things solid" and finds this link.

 

[johnr2604]

To add on to your dredging up old topics. Almost all the answers are explained in the 3 Laws of thermodynamics.

 

[contraband629]

Originally Posted by johnr2604
http:///forum/post/3158552
To add on to your dredging up old topics. Almost all the answers are explained in the 3 Laws of thermodynamics.
How so? Zeroths law for thermodynamic equilibrium, conservation of energy, add in entropy, and something else.