system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If atoms never truly "touch", how is heat transferred?

I understand that heat is just the average velocity of all of the atoms. So if the atoms never truly "touch", how is the kinetic energy transferred? Virtual particles?
gpt
The concept of atoms "touching" is not very well-defined, because they are not solid. Regardless, atoms can exert forces on each other, so they can exchange kinetic energy. In addition, in metals electrons moving through the lattice also carry kinetic energy.