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A little thought that came to me that has resulted in a great deal of confusion.

If object A is a circular sheet whose circumference is exactly equal to object B, a hollow ring of wood whose internal circumference is exactly equal to object A's circumference, inner circumference, yes that went in circles, would object A be able to pass through object B?

Please note, I'm talking exact to the atom.

no it wouldn't if two things are exactly the same in that measure that means whatever line defines them is totally equal and thus- solid meeting solid- the object must be a tiiiiny bit smaller- or what its going into must be a tiiiiiny bit bigger. Now however you said it was wood- so you may be able to heat it- get it to expand and place the object in it but thats taking it a bit too far.

The wood part didn't matter, I just ended up writing wood because I've been helping make a bed frame.
But yeah, that makes sense.

Wood expands when you heat it though doesn't it. Thus making the tube thicker which would reduce the internal circumference. Although if you heat enough it'll ignite- then you just let it burn a little bit.

I'd say yes, because atoms vibrate ever so slightly, so if you match up the objects' average circumferences exactly the vibration means that at some times the objects are of different circumferences, and object A would eventually pass through object B. The amount of time this would take, though is another question entirely.

With a hammer or some sandpaper, yes.

That is exactly what i was thinking.

I would have to say no. Without moving some atoms around, it's impossible for both edges to occupy the same space at the same time.

Fire some neutrinos at Object B and you'll be all set.

If we're talking theoretically, it would matter what kind of material you would use. Ionic compounds tend to act differently than covalent or metallic. If it's a crystalline structure, what kind of lattice does it have? Would the materials be the same, or would they react?

In general, though, you would either have to heat the outer material (assuming it didn't catch fire), and/or cool the interior material (assuming it doesn't become super-brittle). By increasing or decreasing the amount of molecular activity (read: heat), you can ever so slightly change the size of your material. Of course, this doesn't hold true to everything, and I'll be impressed if you can do something like that in your garage -- especially with some of the more modern materials.



Technically, destabilizing the nucleus like that would alter the composition of the materials, but I don't think your average Joe has access to radioactive materials needed. Beta decay is not your friend.

Like hell it isn't! I bought a small hadron collider from Office Max for $199.99 and its working so far.

On a different note, everything I eat tastes like metal.

-the heck? Try seperating food from machine, and if that fails, man from machine.

Nah, there's something satisfying about watching your food slither out of an extruder. The romance is tangeable.

I'm with fastchapter on that point above

also the answer to your question Keldoth is no, unless you hit it with a hammer/ sledge hammer, hard enough