What happens at atomic/molecular level when we cut or break things?

Question

When we cut a sheet of paper, slice a tomato or simply break a branch, how do the breaking/cutting procees looks like at atomic level? How is the interaction between, let’s say, the tomato and the knife?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Knife is hard, and tomato is soft. Knife comes in, pushes tomato out of the way in a similar fashion to a brick falling through water. The molecules in the tomato just get pushed out of the way.