Gravity is an Extremely Feeble Force

...imagine holding an electron in your left hand and another electron in your right hand and bringing these two identical electrically charged particles close together. Their mutual gravitational attraction will favor their getting closer while their electromagnetic repulsion will try to drive them apart. Which is stronger? There is no contest: The electromagnetic repulsion is about a million billion billion billion billion (10 to the 42th) times stronger! If your right bicep represents the strength of the gravitational force, then your left bicep would have to extend beyond the edge of the known universe to represent the strength of the electromagnetic force. The only reason the electromagnetic force does not completely overwhelm gravity in the world around us is that most things are composed of an equal amount of positive and negative electric charges whose forces cancel each other out. On the other hand, since gravity is always attractive, there are no analogous cancellations—more stuff means greater gravitational force. But fundamentally speaking, gravity is an extremely feeble force.

Notes:

In comparison to the other forces holding the Universe together.

Folksonomies: gravity electromagnetic force atomic glue

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Entities:
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Concepts:
Electric charge (0.940237): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Fundamental interaction (0.686648): dbpedia | freebase
Universe (0.670064): dbpedia | freebase
General relativity (0.590455): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Electromagnetism (0.573898): dbpedia | freebase
Fundamental physics concepts (0.514111): dbpedia
Atom (0.510884): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Dark matter (0.500464): dbpedia | freebase

 The Elegant Universe
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book:  Greene , Brian (2011-05-31), The Elegant Universe, Vintage Digital, Retrieved on 2012-03-29
  • Source Material [books.google.com]
  • Folksonomies: science physics


    Schemas

    12 JUN 2011

     The Scientist's Unique Perspectives on Nature

    Examples of scientists giving us unique explanations of natural phenomena.
     28