system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Does friction exist on a subatomic scale?

As I understand it, friction is the result of electrostatic forces between different objects interacting (electrons and protons attracting and repelling each other). So if you were to take two neutrons and rub them together, would there be any friction?
gpt
Friction is a macroscopic effect. There are no meaningful analogs at the atomic or sub-atomic scale. At the atomic scale there are interaction cross-sections and various types of forces somewhat generalized as bonds and weak interactions such as van-der-waals forces and things like fermi-level interactions, cooper pairs other inter-molecular forces. At the subatomic scale its entirely different. The strong and weak nuclear force dominate. Friction is the result of many small forces combined. Atomic is the opposite of that.