{
  "id": "contact.physical",
  "term": "contact",
  "sense": "physical",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 4,
  "arena": "spatiotemporal",
  "domain": "physics",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "When two things are at the same place in space during time and their boundaries touch.",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "space.extent",
      "time.dimension",
      "boundary.limit",
      "others.distinct-entities",
      "touch.together"
    ],
    "interaction": "Two distinct entities with boundaries occupy the same region in space and time, causing their boundaries to touch, enabling mutual influence.",
    "novel_properties": [
      "coincidence in space and time",
      "boundary adjacency",
      "potential for mutual change"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The International Space Station's solar arrays physically contact debris at orbital speeds, causing micrometeorite pits visible on returned panels.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "Two billiard balls touch momentarily after a break shot on a pool table at the 2023 World Nine-ball Championship.",
      "domain": "everyday life"
    },
    {
      "text": "Neurons in a mouse hippocampus physically contact each other at synapses, verified via electron microscopy in a 2017 Max Planck study.",
      "domain": "biology"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "interaction.process",
      "type": "enables",
      "note": "contact enables interaction"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "carrying.transporting",
    "charged.electrical",
    "held.grip",
    "join.connection",
    "press.force"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "contact",
    "contacts"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "components",
      "note": "Added 'touch.together' as a constitutive component since the definition relies on the idea of boundaries being in contact with causal potential. Interaction clause revised to reflect joint role of com"
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-contact.physical"
}