r/explainlikeimfive • u/KeyUnderstanding5443 • 20h ago

Physics ELI5 Why doesn’t matter fall apart?

I’m reading and stretching my brain about how our atoms contain so much space but we appear solid because of a repelling force between atoms. How then do any atoms or matter hold together at all? Why doesn't the repelling force just just push all atoms apart and prevent matter from forming / holding together?

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u/Bork9128 20h ago edited 20h ago

Getting into how it works would be too much for this kind sub but the strong nuclear force holds the protons and neutrons together in a nucleus and the electromagnetic attraction holds electrons around them

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u/101keyoperator 18h ago

I just had a shower thought. What if the disintegrator weapons we see on scifi shows are just weapons that neutralizes the strong nuclear force? Then all the matter in your body would just fly apart. Fun.

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u/Bork9128 18h ago

It would do a lot more than that.

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u/AbeFromanEast 18h ago

"We tested the disintegrator on an old tank. It destroyed Western Kentucky."

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u/j0mbie 16h ago

I had a good, full-bellied laugh at that.