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What happens when a hammer hits a nail? Do hammer electrons hit nail electrons? If not, what drives the nail in?
Eric Kvaalen
Les Essarts-le-Roi, France
In a sense, that is true. The electrons of the hammer repel the electrons of the nail, pushing them down a bit. That causes the nuclei in the nail to move downwards too, attracted by the nail electrons. Although the electrical effect travels down the nail at nearly the speed of light, that doesn’t move the atoms much. It is only when a wave of motion, travelling at the speed of sound in…
