Bonding in Solids

What holds a solid together? What is the nature of the cohesive force? In this chapter, we answer some of these questions [1, 2]. When atoms forming a solid are far away, they do not talk to each other, but when brought close, the electrons of one atom feel a positive charge of nuclei of neighboring atom, which lowers its energy. Therefore this becomes a lower energy configuration, compared to atoms far from each other. Hence atoms form solids.