Knife blade physics

[Arathol]

The answer is....... 42

 

[halden.doerge]

No. It is 17.

 

[bdmicarta]

Steel, I would presume, though I suppose it could be a different blade material.

I'm not a chemist but my understanding is that steel doesn't form molecules. Rust is a molecule, patina is a molecule, steel is an element. Or rather iron is an element and when you mix iron with other materials to form steel, you have a mixture and not a compound.

 

[Insipid Moniker]

I'm not a chemist but my understanding is that steel doesn't form molecules. Rust is a molecule, patina is a molecule, steel is an element. Or rather iron is an element and when you mix iron with other materials to form steel, you have a mixture and not a compound.

You're right! Bad assumption on my part. The worst is that I'd done some cursory googling before I answered your first question and still got it wrong!

Though I stand by the bit about microns being the better way to measure.

 

[seabil]

Now the hard question: how does the knife on a atomic or molecular level cut?