Magnetism vs. Gravity

[Sword7]

Hello folks,

I noticed interesting posting on Slashdot website a few weeks ago. That is about water droplets orbiting knitting needle experiment at ISS (microgravity). I researched about comparison between magnetism and gravity and learned something. Magnetism is strong virtual force while gravity is weak static force. Both uses same formula but different constant values.

Does anyone have know about that?

Thanks,
Sword7

 

[Loru]

You've encountered something called "Inverse square law".

It's a law aplied to various phenomena like light, gravity, sound, particle radiation extending from point (or close to point) source.

 

[Jarvitä]

For a second I thought this was an Electric Universe thread. Thanks for that. :lol:

The inverse square phenomenon has to do with the area covered increasing with distance. This is how my elementary school physics teacher explained it:

Imagine you're spraying paint on sheets of paper. The spray nozzle projects neat rectangles of paint that happen to match the aspect ratio of the sheets. If you spray it from a metre away, you'll paint a single sheet. Move a metre backwards, and both the width and height of the spray pattern have increased twice - the area is therefore four times greates, while the distance has doubled.

The inverse square law is not a law of physics, it is a law of geometry, much like pythagoras' law or the Euler identity.