What exactly makes opposites attract and likes repel?

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter urtalkinstupid
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Repel
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the concepts of attraction and repulsion in physics, specifically focusing on electrostatic and magnetostatic phenomena. Participants explore the underlying mechanisms that lead to these interactions, including the roles of emission and absorption, Coulomb's law, and gravitational forces.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that the attraction between opposites and repulsion between likes may be explained by the rates of emission and absorption of particles, particularly in the context of protons and electrons.
  • Another participant emphasizes that the question is reasonable for electrostatics but notes that magnetostatic phenomena behave differently, with like currents attracting and opposite currents repelling.
  • A claim is made that Coulomb's law describes the electrostatic forces between charges, which are proportional to the magnitude of the charges involved.
  • Some participants express a desire for deeper understanding beyond basic principles, indicating that they seek to know the fundamental mechanisms at play.
  • There is mention of gravitational attraction between neutral particles, which is also derived from experimental observations.
  • One participant reiterates their "push" theory of gravity, although they clarify that it is separate from the current discussion on electrostatics.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the nature of attraction and repulsion, with some focusing on established laws like Coulomb's law while others propose alternative explanations. There is no consensus on the interpretations or implications of these interactions.

Contextual Notes

Some participants highlight the importance of experimental validation for concepts like Coulomb's law and gravitational attraction, indicating that the discussion is grounded in empirical observations. However, there are unresolved questions about the deeper mechanisms behind these forces.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be of interest to students and enthusiasts in physics, particularly those exploring electrostatics, magnetostatics, and gravitational theories.

urtalkinstupid
Messages
261
Reaction score
0
Hey, guys! I'm back! :frown:

What exactly makes opposites attract and likes repel? Sure, you put a proton near an electron. They both move towards each other. So, what's happening?

Is this just the action of emission and absorption? All particles emitt and absorb according to their density. When a proton comes in contact with another proton, they both have the same emittance rate, thus push away from each other. Emission overcomes absorption in that situation. Could that be what is happening?

Take a black hole and it's singularity (or it's string) and put it against light. The black hole is very dense, ergo absorption takes over emission. The light goes to the center mass and is absorbed and not able to be emitted, explaining why no light is emitted around a suspected "black hole."

This has NOTHING to do with my "push" theory of gravity, before you scrutanize me on this idea. It's just something i observed with light while looking at another thread. Light being reflected off a mirror goes through emission and absorption. LAAA! :biggrin:
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Try Physics 101.
 
I'm only in high school. So, I was just wondering. You don't have to get rude about it.
 
Apologies, I did not mean to be rude. Asking questions is the essence of science. I get annoyed when people ask the wrong questions for the wrong reasons. Our science, and math, is built upon very sound foundations. There are no reasonable objections. But, there are many questions left to be answered. Perhaps you will find some of them. My point is don't cast off what is already known. Science is hard. You ask the right questions. Don't let the quacks push you off course [eg, Arp nonsense]. I may not be much help, but, I am your friend and will try.
 
urtalkinstupid said:
This has NOTHING to do with my "push" theory of gravity, before you scrutanize me on this idea. It's just something i observed with light while looking at another thread. Light being reflected off a mirror goes through emission and absorption. LAAA! :biggrin:
Chronos was blunt, but he's right - this has nothing to do with accepted physics and you would be well advised to learn some before trying to invent your own. It might save you a lot of wasted effort.
 
urtalkinstupid said:
What exactly makes opposites attract and likes repel?

This stated question is reasonable only for electrostatic phenomena. For magnetostatic phenomena, like (flowing in the same direction) currents attract and opposite currents repel.

The simplest answer for electrostatic attraction of opposites and repulsion of like electric charges is the existence of an electric force as is described by Coulomb's law of electrostatic electricity. This force is directly proportional to the concept of an electric field. The constant of proportionality is the magnitude of the charge. The unit of this charge is the charge of the electron.
 
Last edited:
I want more than simply an overview. I want to know what is really happening. I already know what Coulomb's law is and how that applys to charges and whether they attract or repel depending on their charge and distance.
 
urtalkinstupid said:
I want to know what is really happening.

It is the existence of the force that makes everything happens. This Coulomb's force is derived from experiments. There is no electrostatic force between particles of neutral charge but they have gravitational atttraction (and again this force of gravity between two objects is also derived from experiment in determining the magnitude of the universal gravitational constant).

The proportionality constant of Coulomb's law was also derived from experiment. So to quickly perform an experiment we simply remove some electrons from one object to make its charge different from the other object and by convention the electron is supposed to have a negative charge and the object with some electrons being removed becomes positive charge and by experiment they attract. If we try to close-in two objects of which some electrons have been removed they will repel again this is seen by experiments.

But what really can be determined by electrostatic priniciple is only the ratio between charge and mass. The charge must be independently determined by another experiment (Millikan's oil drop experiment) that can nullify the gravitational force.
 
Last edited:
Back In Business!

speaking of gravity, anyone want to hear about the push theory??
 
  • #10
oh jesuss...
 
  • #11
hey armo! u rock!
 
  • #12
beatrix kiddo said:
speaking of gravity, anyone want to hear about the push theory??

You guys are like AOL for physics. Stop spreading your arguments around and stay in your original posts. Cross-posting among threads is really annoying (see: AOL)
 

Similar threads

Undergrad What Causes Attraction and Repulsion in Physics?
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
High School Problems I Have With Electrostatics and Pith Ball Experiments
  • · Replies 10 ·
Replies
10
Views
5K
Undergrad Formation of emission lines and other topics
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
Undergrad Why Does a Blackbody Emit Broadband Radiation from Monochromatic Light?
  • · Replies 23 ·
Replies
23
Views
4K
Undergrad What empirical observation supports the axiom of continuous spacetime?
  • · Replies 23 ·
Replies
23
Views
2K
Undergrad Assumptions for blackbody spectra vs. emission spectra vs. absorption spectra
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
5K
Graduate Emitting one or two opposite charges along the x-axis
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Undergrad Are these explanations for color/light-absorption correct?
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
Undergrad Does Spacetime rotate like a vortex?
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
1K
High School Theories about light and time near a black hole
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
3K