Why can’t we walk through walls if atoms are mostly empty space?

abdulmanannet77@gmail.comAugust 25, 2025

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Why can’t we walk through walls if atoms are mostly empty space?

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In films, people cross walls like ghosts – think of the vision of “Avengers” or Harry Potter which goes through the 9 profit platform. He looks effortlessly. But in the real world, trying this trick would just leave you a bruised nose and many questions.

A question, for example, could be to know why cannot we browse the walls? Atomswhich are the constituent elements of the material, are mainly an empty space. The tiny nucleus – which is by the way 100,000 times smaller than the whole atom – is in the center, while the electrons in distant orbit. So why do solid objects feel so … solid?

There are two concepts of physics which make it impossible to walk through solid materials: electrostatic repulsion and the principle of exclusion from Pauli, said experts at Live Science.

Classically, an atom has a nucleus, which is made of protons and neutrons, and electrons that move around it. The positive load of the protons and the negative load of the electrons are pulled towards each other, holding the atom together.

But in quantum mechanicsThe electron does not move in a neat circle. Instead, it forms a kind of cloud – a fuzzy area where she could be. This is called “a cloud of probability”, ” Raheem hashmaniA doctoral student in physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Live Science. This cloud does not move. It is right there, showing the places where the electron is most likely to be found.

The cloud makes the periphery of the negative atom. “If I try to pass through a wall, the atoms of my body will see the [ones] in the wall, and they will repel, ” Steven RolstonA physicist at the University of Maryland, told Live Science.

In relation: How many atoms is there in the observable universe?

This is called electromagnetic repulsion – like when you try to push the Same poles of two magnets together. By walking through a wall, the electrons interact through electromagnetic waves. These waves are among the forces that prevent atoms from overlapping and why the solid matter remains and feels solid.

But what happens if the atoms were even closer?

This is where Pauli’s exclusion principle comes into play. He indicates that some particlesCalled Fermions, cannot share the same energy condition or be in the same place at the same time. The electrons are farms, so in this case, the terms are interchangeable.

“When these electrons clouds start to approach each other, they overlap, which means that two electrons could share the same physical space,” said Hashmani. “According to the principle of exclusion from Pauli, this is not allowed.”

An illustration of an atom

The atoms have a core in the center which is surrounded by a “probability cloud” of electrons. (Image Credit: Ktsdesign / Sciencephotolibrary via Getty Images)

The two concepts – the principle of exclusion from Pauli and electromagnetic repulsion – prevent atoms from occupying the same space. Without them, a solid material as we know would not hold its form. In liquids and gases, atoms have more freedom to move, but the same rules still apply. They simply prevent atoms from overlapping, not moving.

However, even if it is almost impossible for objects to switch to each other, quantum mechanics always offers an interesting answer: technically, there is a little chance could arrive.

Particles like electrons do not behave like tiny solid balls. Instead, they also act like waves, and these waves can sometimes extend physical barriers.

Let’s say that a wave representing a particle strikes a wall – a barrier, it does not have enough energy to cross. In mechanical classicHe would bounce. But in quantum mechanics, the wave does not suddenly stop, said Hashmani. Instead, he begins to decompose exponentially when he enters the barrier. If the wall is pretty thin, this wave could still have a small presence on the other side. And because the wave represents the probability where the particle could be, there is a small chance that the particle will appear on the other side. This is called quantum tunneling.

However, the probability of an entire person crossing a wall “would be something like 1 in 10 at the power of 10 at the power of 30,” said Hashmani. “If you put this in a calculator, it will actually give you zero. No calculator on the planet will give you something that is not zero. This is how the infinitely small probability is the probability.”

Rolston accepted. “It’s about as close to zero as possible, but it’s not zero,” he said. “It is so infinitely small that I am sure that it would not happen in the age of the universe.”