6k views

### What is the cause of the normal force? [duplicate]

I've been wondering, what causes the normal force to exist? In class the teacher never actually explains it, he just says "It has to be there because something has to counter gravity." While I ...
2k views

### Is the electromagnetic force responsible for contact forces? [duplicate]

It is commonly stated that there are four fundamental forces, or interactions, in nature. It is natural to consider which of those is responsible for the normal force we meet in elementary physics. ...
757 views

### Proof that the ground pushes you up [duplicate]

It has been said that when you try to jump you are exerting your force on the ground and the ground pushes you up. I was wondering if this was an over-simplification or not. If so, what's the full ...
1k views

### Where does the Pauli Repulsive Force come from that counteracts the attraction between atoms and ions? [duplicate]

I'm learning about such things as ionic and covalent bonds, and the reason given for the ionic bonds is electrostatic attraction. However, if that were true, then the two ions would accelerate toward ...
992 views

### What kind of force is it when you push a door shut? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How can I stand on the ground? EM or/and Pauli? It probably seems like a silly question to a physicist, but I'm from a pure maths background and don't know an awful lot ...
113 views

### Falling through the ground [duplicate]

I do not know much about physics but I know that according to Newtons third law of motion when we walk we are pushing the ground down but the ground is pushing us up. What force is making the ground ...
60 views

### Is it degeneracy pressure rather than electrostatic repulsion that stops us falling through the floor? [duplicate]

From Wikipedia: Degeneracy Pressure Freeman Dyson showed that the imperviousness of solid matter is due to quantum degeneracy pressure rather than electrostatic repulsion as had been previously ...
428 views

### How does the Pauli exclusion principle create a force in degenerate matter?

My understanding is that when it comes to forming a white dwarf, it is the electron degeneracy pressure, due to the Pauli Exclusion Principle, preventing collapse in of the white dwarf. If the ...
6k views

### Vibration as a means of passing through solid objects?

First of all, I think this is a weird question but I still want to know whether it's possible. There is a character in a cartoon network series who is really really fast. Sometimes he lets his own ...
677 views

### Can I throw a stone through my window without breaking the glass?

As far as I know, most of an atom is vacuum. Therefore, in theory, would it be possible for me to throw a tiny stone through my window without breaking it because no matter actually collides?
476 views

### What is the pressure between two electric dipole sheets of finite extent?

I have recently become curious about modeling the repulsion of everyday objects in contact with one another. By repulsion I mean as you attempt to walk through a wall, the pain in your nose suddenly ...
767 views

### Is it theoretically possible for a person to pass through a solid wall/object?

I understand that matter cannot pass through other solid matter because of the electrons that orbit an atom prevents this but I was curious to know if it is theoretically possible to somehow get ...
343 views

### Pauli's Exclusion Principle

Can someone tell me how Pauli's Exclusion Principle gives stability to matter? I know two electrons cannot occupy the same energy state so that is why we cannot squeeze bulk matter after a limit and ...
I am a general physics student, I had a question in my text-book and according to it two students having gravitational attraction between them = ($6.67\cdot10^-8\ \mathrm{Nm}^2/\mathrm{kg}^2$) is not ...