Why is it that when we cut bread or anything else with a knife, the less effective way to cut it is just by pressing on it from above? And is it true that we can cut things with knife because of the thin edge that makes an interaction with the other material (like bread)?
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Simply, the pressure that you exert with a knife on a bread is high enough to destroy the binding energy between the molecules of bread. When you exert such pressure on anything, the place that has the highest pressure and that's weakest breaks.
Cutting stuff with knife isn't the only way to separate molecules. For example, ultra-violet light is dangerous because its energy is higer than the energy binding the cells together.
The Quantum Physicist
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