Are the walls not solid, but mist?

Contemplating Aristotle

Atoms are something like 99.9999999...% empty space. If this is so, then why does the wall appear flat and solid? Could it be that it is not really solid or straight at all and that this is just an illlusion. Could we deem the wall to be a sea, a mist of wondering atoms?

Is it really straight in shape, how can we know if the atoms, its phantom building blocks cannot be observed?

GalwayKiefer

Bit early in the day to be tripping isn't it?

Saila

If I make a post and you cant see it, is it really there?

tell you what, i'll shove you into a wall, and you can tell us

bleg

Yea, smack your head against it there.

FTGFOP

Have you delved much into Quantum Physics, OP? Everything is wavy, even solids.

Irish Guitarist

I've seen spiders crawling up my wall. I don't think they could do that if it wasn't solid.

Saila

so if I smack his head off a wall he'll be all misty eyed

JohnathanM

Forget the philosophy, OP. You need an introductory science course.

Thatnastyboy

Contemplating Aristotle wrote: »

Atoms are something like 99.9999999...% empty space. If this is so, then why does the wall appear flat and solid? Could it be that it is not really solid or straight at all and that this is just an illlusion. Could we deem the wall to be a sea, a mist of wondering atoms?

Is it really straight in shape, how can we know if the atoms, its phantom building blocks cannot be observed?

Yeah? well,









So's your face

Tar.Aldarion

bluewolf wrote: »

tell you what, i'll shove you into a wall, and you can tell us

Theoretically he could pass through it.

:eek:

mp3guy

Magnetic force between atoms.

ArtyM

So, can I ask my builder for refund or not?

Duff

One does not simply walk into Mordor.

dizzywizlw

Getting help for your homework OP?

Hookah

It's coz of the gluons.

Balmed Out

Someones watching reading The Men Who Stare At Goats

CrazyRabbit

You can go through solid walls. You just have to be travelling fast enough. Well...at least some of you will make it through.

Contemplating Aristotle

It is a theoretical question, yes they are solid in that we can walk into them and no further, but is it all still just an illusion. Do we define solidity and visibility by our senses alone, are we really this arrogant that we assume our senses define reality as opposed to just been a catchment area of a wider reality? Could whats solid be just an illusion, a figment of our imaginations, whereas the reality been that it is not solid at all at the fundamental level.

themadchef

Metal gear solid?

Oranage2

I've done extensive research on the matter of passing through walls - Theoretically its possible but one must have a door to do so!

johnmcdnl

there solid relative to how packed together the atoms in air are...

if got got some beta particles from a nuclear reaction they'd pass through the walls because the wall isn't dense enough to stop them...

however you can't pass throught the wall and see it as being "solid" because the atoms in your body are too dense to be able to pass though it...

but if you get small enough particles then yes - even a wall isn't "solid" and particles can pass though it...

CrazyRabbit

The OP's head is gonna explode when they starting think about how we can see through glass and other transparent materials.

red menace

Contemplating Aristotle wrote: »

It is a theoretical question, yes they are solid in that we can walk into them and no further, but is it all still just an illusion. Do we define solidity and visibility by our senses alone, are we really this arrogant that we assume our senses define reality as opposed to just been a catchment area of a wider reality? Could whats solid be just an illusion, a figment of our imaginations, whereas the reality been that it is not solid at all at the fundamental level.

The only reality that matters is the one our senses define.
And yes we are are that arrogant when clearly our universe is really an atom in a much larger universe

Fremen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02_R8aiUAKw

liah

Did you just watch the Men Who Stare at Goats?

The walls of my house are made of polystyrene so that they are 99% air is probably correct.

ICF

wolfric

I think i can clear this up pretty simply.

When you stuff collides together it's not that it's those particles that are touching off each other. It's the electromagnetic bonds that are "touching".

This doesn't trasfer accurately to what is actually going but should give you another example of something similar.

Air hockey, the puck doesn't touch the surface yet there's only air between it and the table.

If you have 2 strong magnets, you could move, or make 2 magnets collide without actually touching.

Alter-Ego

I saw Daniel Radcliffe run though a wall in a train station once...

red menace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJCxJWwkHdQ&feature=related

Tar.Aldarion

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Theoretically he could pass through it.

:eek:

He'd have to be vibrating very fast.

Contemplating Aristotle

red menace wrote: »

The only reality that matters is the one our senses define.

How can one know, if they have not experienced these other senses, that remain invisible to us in the here and now?

Blisterman

Answer: Light waves are bigger than atoms, so they can't pass through the empty space.

cesc77

Contemplating Aristotle wrote: »

Atoms are something like 99.9999999...% empty space. If this is so, then why does the wall appear flat and solid? Could it be that it is not really solid or straight at all and that this is just an illlusion. Could we deem the wall to be a sea, a mist of wondering atoms?

Is it really straight in shape, how can we know if the atoms, its phantom building blocks cannot be observed?

Aww,the whittle thinker has just been watching "What the bleep do we know?"

What a crock of sh1te this is, using scientific facts to bamboozle people into believing airy fairy guff.

Yeah,I can influence how an ice crystal forms through the power of positive thought.:rolleyes:

Tis a most useful tool.Especially after the winter that weve had:pac:

thetonynator

Don't think about it too much . .it hurts . . .

Gunmonkey

The 99.99999% empty space is where monsters live so thats why you cant walk through a wall.

How else you think they get into your house to hide under your bed? Some kind of magic door leading to your closet from a giant factory........preposterous........

AhSureTisGrand

You're giving philosophy a bad name, OP

the culture of deference

Neutrino's can pass through a planet size sheet of lead. The whole atomic mass of the current human population of this planet would fit into a thumbnail.

Saila

the culture of deference wrote: »

Neutrino's can pass through a planet size sheet of lead.

they sound like a new funky brand of shoes

Fallschirmjager

the one that still gets me is that glass is still a liquid ...its just flowing very slowly. that why really old church glass is thicker at the bottom then the top...

of course that could be complete BS...sounds good tho...

False: the medieval builders just placed it thickest end down, otherwise the thin end was more likely to break if it was at the bottom.

sensibleken

wibbley wobbly timey wimey!

Fallschirmjager

Deleted User wrote: »

False: the medieval builders just placed it thickest end down, otherwise the thin end was more likely to break if it was at the bottom.

NOOOOO....jeasus thats boring compared to the story i heard...and probably true...bugger

Blisterman

Well there are extremely thick liquids. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_drop_experiment

brimal

OP needs to read up on quantum mechanics, particularly uncertainty principle. Truly amazing subject

Saila

brimal wrote: »

OP needs to read up on quantum mechanics, particularly uncertainty principle. Truly amazing subject

I didnt think they decided how to word that one yet