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At a subatomic level, what we perceive as "touch" is actually just electromagnetic repulsion. Every atom is surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. Because charges repel, the electrons in your hand push against the electrons in an object long before they ever make contact, leaving a microscopic gap of empty space between you. However, according to quantum mechanics, these particles behave like probability waves rather than solid objects, meaning there is a non-zero statistical chance that they could "tunnel" through the barrier of another object rather than bounce off. If you were to defy this repulsion and force the nuclei of the atoms to actually touch, you would overcome the Coulomb barrier and trigger nuclear fusion, releasing a massive amount of energy. Music composed by Bert Cole (bitbybitsound.com)

@lowpolyshorts
80.4M views7.5M likes0:38ENApr 16, 2026
133 words745 characters8 sentencesReadability: Middle School

Transcript

If you touch something and your atoms align in just the perfect way, there's an extremely low chance you could phase right through it like a ghost. But this is statistically impossible. You see, atoms are surrounded by a layer of energy that pushes away other atoms like a magnet. As you press your hand against a surface, the atoms in your skin and the atoms in the object repel each other so strongly that they can never truly touch. But this creates a microscopic space that separates you no matter how hard you push. So you've never actually touched anything in your entire life. You've never touched grass, and she technically didn't cheat on you. But if you somehow forced them to come in contact, they would fuse together and trigger it.