The truth is that surfaces never "touch". How do you touch an atom? Even an atom in a tight lattice or molecule is held in place only loosely by electromagnetic forces. The electron shells are a convenient idea more than they're real, they're not a real boundary for another atom to bump against. And the nucleus is so much tinier than the innermost shell it's hard to wrap your mind around.

Basically, surfaces don't truly exist. In reality the surface is just a fuzzy area where things are limited in how close they can get before the forces between the electromagnetic layers push back.

So friction is just when one electromagnetic fuzzy thing interferes with another electromagnetic fuzzy thing's lateral motion, and that interference atom to atom creates movement in the lattice of each which creates heat.

This finding is just that in special circumstances those electromagnetic fuzzy things can be a lot further apart when they interfere with each other.

[–] teft@piefed.social 19 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This finding is just that in special circumstances those electromagnetic fuzzy things can be a lot further apart when they interfere with each other.

Reading the article it seems this research is about Amonton's first law which is about the way friction increases with load. This experiment shows that in certain scenarios the friction can be low when the distance is close or far but at a medium distance (not sure the exact distances here) the friction increases thus breaking Amontons' first law.

[–] suff@piefed.social 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Although the magnetic interaction, i.e. the normal load between the two layers monotonically decreases with increasing h, 〈Fₓ〉exhibits a clear peak around h₀ = 9 mm. This is in strong contradiction with Amonton's empirical first law, which claims that sliding friction is proportional to the load ^33^.

[–] teft@piefed.social 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Oh wow a lot farther than i was thinking. I had guessed submillimeter. Thanks for the link to the paper.

[–] suff@piefed.social 1 points 6 days ago

Magnets such as those NdFeB magnets (N35 grade with nickel surface coating, HKCM Article No. 9963-73617 and HKCM Article No. 9962-61814) weren't tested back then, I guess.

[–] kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

Ah! Thank you for the correction. Much appreciated!

[–] Impronoucabl@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sorry, I'm still not seeing the merit in this article/paper.

This finding is just that in special circumstances those electromagnetic fuzzy things can be a lot further apart when they interfere with each other.

I don't see what's new? Bulk magnetic forces vs atomic magnetic forces have been known to have different strengths for a very long time now.

[–] kata1yst@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

I refer you to @teft@piefed.social 's excellent summation. My conclusion on the meaning of the research was faulty.