• gmtom@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Yeah that’s not how it works. Without even going into quantum mechanics or really any advanced physics, something low energy like petting a dog, the electrons in your hand are going to repel the electrons in his fur way before any orbital get close to overlapping.

    The only time you can even consider orbitsls as overlapping is during molecular bonding. (And even then in QM the electrons still have sperate orbital, they just go around both atoms.)

    • WolfLink@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      I think they meant “electric field” rather than “orbital”.

      Not to mention that orbitals “exist” infinitely (with negligible strength/probability).