Instantaneous action/reaction

[Heyo]

Thanks for the reply. Very interesting stuff. At what point do you think does the change in spacing between atoms become effectively zero?

As I tried to explain in my first answer (#6), there is no minimal spacing between atoms (for all practical purposes).

And what happens at that point do you think?

The repelling force of the nuclei gets stronger the closer they come. If you can compress a material so far that the nuclei "touch" (the point where the strong force gets stronger than the electromagnetic, repelling force, the nuclei fuse, releasing a lot of energy.
If you can compensate for that energy and compress the material further, electrons will be forced into the nucleus, combining with the protons to a neutron star.
And even that mass of pure neutrons has spacial expansion and can be compressed further - into a Black Hole.

Seems to me if the spacing between atoms is sufficiently close to zero then atomic particle structure comes into play rather than atomic "populations". And how is it that an object and its kinetic energy can travel faster than the speed of sound but transference of compressive force cannot? Are we talking about the same systems of transference?

 

[Heyo]

Atoms are collections of subatomic particles and the spacing between atoms is governed by electrical attraction and repulsion forces between these subatomic particles. One can, in theory, compress a substance indefinitely since the subatomic particles occupy very little volume individually. But as compression force increases, so does the temperature. So the temperature will become so high that the atomic structure itself will break and the material will become a "plasma" which a dense soup of effectively unbounded subatomic particles. Increase the pressure even higher and nuclear reactions will start occuring as happens in the Sun, or the neutron star interiors. Beyond that, it becomes a black hole and we frankly have no idea what is the state of the matter.
In short materials can be compressed indefinitely and the idea of incompressible substance is only an appx model and not the truth.

Beat me by a few minutes.

 

[setarcos]

As I tried to explain in my first answer (#6), there is no minimal spacing between atoms (for all practical purposes).

My apologies. I did read and understand what you were trying to explain in your first answer.
I think, as I asked sayak83, that our frames of reference may be different.
Atomic structure keeps getting referenced and that is the direction the conversation went. I was wondering about subatomic processes.
For instance how close can neutrons, or say, neutrinos etc. get to one another at which point we would consider their spatial separation to be effectively zero? That is the point at which the kinetic force applied by one particle to another is sufficient to kinetically excite the other particle into exciting another particle etc. given unequal apposing forces.
In consideration of compression it seems your considering an equal apposing force being applied from each direction. That wasn't the intended assumption of my question.
Are fundamental particles in some manner compressible to a point without altering their fundamental structure?
Anyways I see now why it was stated that the transference of the energy via a compression wave travels at the speed of sound through the interaction of atomic structures. But at what speed does energy transfer through interacting fundamental particles not atomic structures?
Hopefully sayak83 will read and have input concerning this post as I'm not inclined to repeat the same thing to them.

 

[Heyo]

My apologies. I did read and understand what you were trying to explain in your first answer.
I think, as I asked sayak83, that our frames of reference may be different.
Atomic structure keeps getting referenced and that is the direction the conversation went. I was wondering about subatomic processes.
For instance how close can neutrons, or say, neutrinos etc. get to one another at which point we would consider their spatial separation to be effectively zero? That is the point at which the kinetic force applied by one particle to another is sufficient to kinetically excite the other particle into exciting another particle etc. given unequal apposing forces.
In consideration of compression it seems your considering an equal apposing force being applied from each direction. That wasn't the intended assumption of my question.
Are fundamental particles in some manner compressible to a point without altering their fundamental structure?
Anyways I see now why it was stated that the transference of the energy via a compression wave travels at the speed of sound through the interaction of atomic structures. But at what speed does energy transfer through interacting fundamental particles not atomic structures?
Hopefully sayak83 will read and have input concerning this post as I'm not inclined to repeat the same thing to them.

I don't know enough about quantum physics to answer that question, but the force that keeps atoms separated is the electromagnetic force. For all practical purposes is that's what's relevant to any Newton's Cradle. If you compress a material so far that you overcome the electromagnetic force, the atoms will fuse and release the power of a hydrogen bomb. When you can contain that force and still increase the pressure, electrons will fuse with protons to form a neutron star.
And even in that matter, about as dense as if you had squeezed Mount Everest into the size of a sugar cube, is still resistance to further compression (though I can't explain the forces) and the pressure wave will travel at the speed of sound.

 

[setarcos]

For all practical purposes is that's what's relevant to any Newton's Cradle.

Thanks for the input...I can see what your saying. Aptly applied to the traditional Newton's Cradle of which who's component "balls" are obviously not fundamental in themselves but are composed of elemental atomic matter.
I was imagining a Newton's Cradle composed entirely of fundamental particles with neutral or no charge and the transmission of energy through first in line to last particle.