In one of the novels of the Soviet science fiction writer Alexander Belyaev, there is a funny plot in which two assistants of the old professor Filinov, under the influence of a certain apparatus, shrank so much that they could get into the world of atoms. The heroes travel along the surface of the electron, which seems to them quite solid, but when one of them hits the electron with his hand, it freely passes through its surface. It remains completely incomprehensible what the travelers breathed and how they could communicate with each other in a vacuum, however, this is not so important.
Could we walk like this on the surface of an atom or an electron and, in general, what do these elementary particles feel to the touch? It would be a very fun experience, but when you get an answer, you will be disappointed. More precisely, there is no answer to this question. First, what properties in this wonderful experiment will have a person reduced to the size of an elementary particle? The properties of the atom or the properties of the electron?
Suppose the experimenter possesses the same properties as the atom. But then, perhaps, he will not even be able to approach the object under study. The fact is that atoms interact with each other not by surfaces, but by force fields. Electronic clouds of atoms simply won't let you get close. In general, if one can speak of any sensations, the atom is rather elastic. However, under certain circumstances, the electron shells of atoms can overlap, exchanging electrons without their transition to higher energy levels.
A still from the film Ant-Man and the Wasp.
As far as electrons go, things are a little more complicated. I must say that an electron can burn a hole in you if it has enough energy. If this can somehow be transferred to the plane of tactile sensations, then the most appropriate definition of the property of an electron would be “hot”.
Of course, all these representations are speculative. When we say that this or that material is hard, soft or cold to the touch, we consciously or subconsciously mean a biological reaction that can manifest itself only in the macrocosm.
Metal is not hard to the touch because its atoms are hard. When you apply pressure to a metal, you only feel the force of interaction of the "electron coats" of atomic nuclei, and since the possibility of moving atoms in a metal is very small, it seems solid to you. But liquids do not have a crystal lattice, their atoms can move relatively freely, but this, again, does not mean that atoms are softer than metal atoms and other solids.
