Hyperion042
Member
- Mar 23, 2003
- 53
- 0
- 0
Originally posted by: JohnCU
Originally posted by: Swag1138
Also, Gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces, which is why it only manifests on a huge scale. The forces are Weak Electromagnetic Force, Strong Electromagnetic Force, Gravity, and I think there's one more, but I can't remember it right now.
Also, as far as I understand it, no one knows for 100% sure what causes gravity, but the blanket model is as good a description as any![]()
It's not that gravity is so weak, it's that subatomic particles have such small masses...
Yes and no. Gravity is extremely weak compared to the other three fundamental forces (Strong Nuclear Force, which holds atomic nuclei together and is transmitted by the Gluon, Weak Nuclear Force, which forces electrons and atomic nuclei to remain apart and is transmitted by the Weak Gauge Boson, and the Eletromagnetic force transmitted by photons). Under general relativity, Gravity is formed when the presence of mass causes space-time to 'bend', as mentioned in an earlier poster. For whatever reason, matter follows this 'bending' downwards to a lower energy state, and so you get gravity. Quantum Physics disagrees, instead postulating what's called a 'Graviton', a very small, very weak particle that transmits the gravitational force between masses. The problem, of course, is that this contradicts the 'space-bending' model postulated by Einstein, and so it represents perhaps one of the biggest physics dilemmas in the 20th century and beyond: How you can construct a Quantum Mechanical Theory that combines gravity with Quantum Mechanics, and explains why gravity is as comparatively weak as it appears to be. This is also the origin for f-in' hardcore theories like M Theory, which operate off the idea that at subatomic scales space suddenly shifts into an 11-Dimensional state. Craziness.