Doubts about the relativistic description of electrical interactions

  • #1
Hak
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I would like help with an issue that I have not yet fully mastered.
Consider a particle resting on a plane, it is subjected to a gravitational force, which can be interpreted as the result of a deformation of space-time.
It remains at rest due to the upward binding reaction provided by the plane. Could the electrical interactions that constitute this force be interpreted as a local deformation of space-time? I say this because it seems natural to me that two phenomena that elide each other can in fact be traced back to the same nature, and it seems quite simple to interpret how a particle is at rest if it is in a space with locally zero space-time deformation (no local curvature). Am I wrong?
Then, electric forces act over smaller distances than gravity, but equilibrium should occur where the two space-time deformations overlap at zero, no? This would explain the action-reaction principle, as the shape of space-time cannot be curved at sharp angles (second derivative less than infinity) and therefore around the equilibrium point, the limit of the first derivative on either side would tend to the same value. Therefore, from an experimental confirmation point of view, can a strong electrical interaction locally deflect a beam of light?
Thank you for any clarification.
 
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  • #2
Hak said:
Could the electrical interactions that constitute this force be interpreted as a local deformation of space-time?
Not unless you can explain why uncharged particles aren't affected by the "electric spacetime curvature". The whole reason you can model gravity as spacetime curvature is that all objects follow the same path given the same initial position and velocity in the absence of other forces and that is not true for electric forces.

Attempts to include EM in GR have been made, such as Kaluza-Klein theory. None has worked - Kaluza-Klein adds a fifth dimension, but ends up predicting the existence of a strong scalar field that we don't see.
Hak said:
electric forces act over smaller distances than gravity
No they don't. They're both infinite ranged.
 
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  • #3
This thread is closed.
There is little to be gained by discussing a half-baked speculative idea like “Could the electrical interactions that constitute this force be interpreted as a local deformation of space-time?”; @ibix’s answer above explains why.
 
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