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Re: [Phys-l] Fields and touch?



On 02/22/2010 06:44 PM, Tony wrote:
When my hand rests on the table, do I touch the table? ...Or do the electric
fields between my hand and table leave a gap between the to objects?

In the case of a hand on a table, the perceived force
is dominated by regions of definite, indisputable touch.
The existence of such regions is attested by by oil from
your hand being left behind on the table.

Maybe it comes down to how "touch" is defined?

In this example, it's not very sensitive to details of
the definition.

(In other examples, such as pushing an optical flat
against another optical flat, the answer might be
much more complicated, depending on details.)