We are hearing often now that the electromagnetic force is many times greater than the gravitational force and that therefore the dominant force in nature is the electromagnetic. This assertion is then used to support the notion of the Electric Universe or even Flat Earth. The initial assertion is nonsense and so to draw conclusions from it is not valid.
Gravity and electromagnetism in classical physics are completely different entities and are expressed in different units. They are incommensurate quantities and cannot be compared to each other.
The idea of expressing them both as the same thing, a force, is a sleight of hand which makes for good practical physics but obscures the fact that they are different entities with different mechanisms.
The idea that the one is stronger than the other comes from the choice of units used and the fundamental constants that enable the transformation of the one into the other.
The Gravitational force between two objects depends upon the masses of the two objects and the distance between them and is calculated via the formula shown.
The ‘units’ of gravitational force are therefore ‘mass squared divided by distance squared multiplied by the gravitational constant G‘.
The absolute value of the force will depend upon choice of units for both mass (kilogram, pounds or ounces) and distance (metre, mile, Angstrom) and also the value of the constant G.
Electrostatic force is determined by the amount of charge on the objects together with the distance between them and a completely different constant ‘k’. The units of electrostatic attraction are therefore charge squared divided by distance squared multiplied by a constant, ‘k’.
The absolute values of each force again depends upon the choice of all units involved with the values constants k and G being chosen, not entirely arbitrarily, but with specific reference to each other in order that two different quantities with completely different mechanisms may both be expressed via the same vocabulary (‘force’) and may attain comparable values in order that physical comparisons should make sense.
A toy magnet will stick to a fridge whilst it is very close or touching but will fall to the ground due to gravity as soon as it moves even a short distance away from the metal. Try lifting a granite boulder against gravity with even a large magnet and you will fail.
The practical strength of the two fields therefore depends upon specific circumstances and the numbers used depends upon the units chosen.
The idea of a ‘force’ in physics is a clever artifice to enable comparison between two qualitatively different entities. The comparison is possible because of a shared behaviour (attraction); the construct of a force allows description of behaviour to be studied as separate from mechanism. One could go go further and say that it allows behaviour to be studied as if it were a mechanism.
The fact that this is even possible is indicative of some sort of unity between gravity and electromagnetism. It may seem natural that a magnetic force could cancel out an electrostatic or gravitational force .. but why? Nobody imagines that the colour blue for example could cancel out an E minor chord or, for that matter, an avocado pear. Frequencies do not cancel out vegetables so why should it be possible for mass and charge?
The eventual answer is that there is a unified field of an electromagnetic nature that in certain circumstances can manifest as the force we call gravity. The field is as described by Konstantin Meyl in his book ‘Scalar Waves – a first Tesla physics handbook’. meyl.eu
The manifestation as gravity is described here: The nature of gravity
The confusion of electromagnetism and gravity has arisen partly because of the physical scale of human beings. If we were the size of galaxies we probably wouldn’t worry too much about electric or subatomic forces and if we were the size of an atom we would probably not care about, or even notice, the force of gravity.
The effects of gravity became apparent long before electromagnetic field theory and so the assumption of gravitational force was taken to be fundamental and as arising from something even more fundamental namely the idea of ‘matter’. Both of these however are emergent properties of the Universal Field and humanity will prefer to cling to that which is familiar for some time yet: Does gravity exist?
Summary
To say that electromagnetism stronger than gravity is equivalent to saying that charge is stronger than mass, i.e. it is nonsense.
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