What’s the difference that makes melted iron particles stick together into a solid shape vs simply gathering a pile of loose iron particles into a shape that can easily scatter apart?
In: Physics
Heat.
Atoms are basically clumps of positive electric charge surrounded by a shell of negative electric charge. Since those charges are equal in magnitude, at a long enough distance, they cancel each other out and the atom can be considered neutral.
But once you get atoms close enough, the relative distances between the negative electrons closest to two atoms, the positive protons in the nucleus, and the negative electrons on the other side, forms some interesting competing forces between like charges repelling and different charges attracting.
So basically at a distance, you have no real force, as they get closer there is a repulsive force that keeps them from apart, but if you overcome that force with enough energy, you can force them to bond, then repulsion kicks in again, keeping them at bonds length, but with even more energy you enter into fusion territory (generally, but not with iron specifically).
Where does that energy come from to overcome that initial repulsion? Heat.
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