I have always wondered what happens on the molecular basis when I slice bread or cut something into pieces. Clearly, the bread as well as the knife consist of molecules - and on a deeper level of atoms - and even deeper there are electrons, photons etc.

What one does is that one puts pressure on the knife, and then it “goes through” the bread. Cutting harder material sometimes requires another technique, like “sawing” for example, but the process on the molecular basis must be similar. The only difference seems to be the smoothness of the surface of the pieces after slicing/cutting. Like, when you use an iron saw to cut.. let’s say a nail… then the nail might look a little frayed… whereas the bread looks smooth after slicing, especially if one uses white bread… and if you break wood, it usually splinters and does not look smooth at all.

What is really going on there? It seems that I can seperate molecules by “pressing or rubbing other molecules” against them (slicing/cutting/sawing) or even with my bare muscular strength (breaking)! Isn’t that strange?

What happens to the molecules at the location where I slice/cut/break? Do I really split whole molecules, so as if they get divorced and then live on two other sides of the bread - each one damned to live a life as a half or to search for a new partner? Or do I just break up friendships (like groups of molecules, but each one remains an integral whole)? Why does the knife stay in shape? Is it because the molecules of the knife have a more powerful “electromagnetical relationship” that keeps them together even when they are “pressured”?

Slicing bread can really be an intellectual experience.