Why ...

[uuDevil]

...is it that when I press a button on my mouse, my finger does not pass through it?

Simple, I think. I'm looking for an authoritative reference to resolve an argument with a friend. Know any?

[nate1729]

Electron-electron repulsion. (Many times over.)

[uuDevil]

[ QUOTE ]
Electron-electron repulsion. (Many times over.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. Thanks.

My friend, who had a more than adequate technical education, disputes this. I don't understand why he can't think in fundamental terms.

Anyway, I found a passage in Carl Sagan's book Cosmos which should do the trick. Apparently, this is a question Arthur Eddington liked to ask. That should be authority enough.

[drudman]

There is a small chance that your finger will pass through the mouse, but only because on the quantum level, that possible configuration of electrons exists. Thanks to the miniscule Planck number, you would have to click for many times more than the age of the universe before it actually happened.

[tbach24]

[ QUOTE ]
There is a small chance that your finger will pass through the mouse, but only because on the quantum level, that possible configuration of electrons exists. Thanks to the miniscule Planck number, you would have to click for many times more than the age of the universe before it actually happened.

[/ QUOTE ]

Couldn't it technically happen on your first try?

[Zeno]

[ QUOTE ]
Couldn't it technically happen on your first try?

[/ QUOTE ]


Yes.

But the probability of your finger remaining a virgin in regards to the mouse is quite high.

I think.

-Zeno

[MMMMMM]

[ QUOTE ]
...is it that when I press a button on my mouse, my finger does not pass through it?

[/ QUOTE ]

You aren't pressing hard enough.

[ QUOTE ]
Simple, I think. I'm looking for an authoritative reference to resolve an argument with a friend. Know any?

[/ QUOTE ]

Newton's Second Law Of Motion, F=ma

Next time, pressing a little harder...and a little harder...and a little harder...

...or perhaps, technically speaking, you aren't pressing fast enough. Next time, try...

[KingMarc]

Newton's Third Law applies as well..force of finger pushing on mouse leads to the reaction force of mouse pushing on finger.

[2+2 wannabe]

[ QUOTE ]
Newton's Third Law applies as well..force of finger pushing on mouse leads to the reaction force of mouse pushing on finger.

[/ QUOTE ]

this really doesn't explain "why"; it's just a human-made law. it's like the law of gravity - it is understood that large bodies are attracted to each other, but you don't know "why".

[Rev. Good Will]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Newton's Third Law applies as well..force of finger pushing on mouse leads to the reaction force of mouse pushing on finger.

[/ QUOTE ]

it's just a human-made law that is based off of observations of the laws of the universe

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP