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I chose a pure gold bar to eliminate the possibility of any chemical reactions occurring, the same question would apply to any everyday object like a wooden block or a marble. Or it could apply with any two solids pushing each other.

So, when I push the gold bar with enough force, the gold bar moves away from my finger due to the pushing force from my finger, but what actually causes this force? Is it the repulsion between the outer electrons on the atoms of my skin cell membranes and the outer electrons of the gold atoms on the surface of the bar? If so, how does this happen on a wide scale to create the pushing force? And how do some of my finger prints end up on the gold bar if the two entities (the gold bar and my finger) are completely repelled by each other's electrons? How do the molecules in my skin cells end up on the outside of the giant metallic lattice that makes up the gold bar?

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    $\begingroup$ Does this answer your question? Is Pauli-repulsion a "force" that is completely separate from the 4 fundamental forces? $\endgroup$
    – Chemomechanics
    Dec 14, 2022 at 20:34
  • $\begingroup$ If not, please review the "related" answers in the sidebar and edit to ask a single question that's not already been covered (e.g., the nature of skin oil adhesion to a noble metal). $\endgroup$
    – Chemomechanics
    Dec 14, 2022 at 20:36
  • $\begingroup$ @Chemomechanics Thanks for the suggestion, but it doesn't really answer the question fully. I'm not asking how the electrons individually repel each other according to Pauli principle, I was asking if that happens, and how it happens on a wider scale in context of the 'pushing force' experienced between two solids (how do the electrons line up to repel, how do the repelling forces combine to push the object with more or less force, etc.) $\endgroup$
    – user350881
    Dec 14, 2022 at 20:53
  • $\begingroup$ Fun fact, in practice any surface is covered by a few monolayers of water anyway.... $\endgroup$
    – rfl
    Dec 14, 2022 at 20:56
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    $\begingroup$ More discussion: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. $\endgroup$
    – Chemomechanics
    Dec 14, 2022 at 21:06

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