Understanding Pressure in Liquids: The Role of Electromagnetic Forces

  • Thread starter Thread starter Delta2
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Liquids Pressure
AI Thread Summary
Pressure in liquids and gases is primarily influenced by the electromagnetic forces at the microscopic level, particularly through interactions between atoms and molecules. While macroscopic electromagnetic fields are not present, the Van der Waals forces contribute significantly to repulsion and outward pressure when molecules are compressed. However, the discussion highlights that most atoms in a gas or liquid are neutral, suggesting that pressure can exist independently of electromagnetic forces, as evidenced by neutrinos, which exert pressure despite lacking electric charge. The conversation encourages further exploration into systems that exhibit zero pressure. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for grasping the fundamental nature of pressure in different states of matter.
Delta2
Homework Helper
Insights Author
Messages
6,002
Reaction score
2,628
What causes the pressure in Liquids(or gases)? Is it deep down of electromagnetic nature? By that i don't mean that there are macroscopic electromagnetic fields from a liquid under pressure but at the microscopic level the pressure is caused by electromagnetic force between the atoms/molecules of the liquid and of the surrounding media.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_der_Waals_force" probably account for the majority of the repulsion (& thus outward pressure) when molecules are forced together.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Your question is quite interesting.

One direction to proceed to understand what systems have zero pressure?

Another point to note - apropos Jack's comment - is that most atoms in a gas/liquid are neutral. So it can't really be electromagnetic in origin. If you have a gas of neutrinos - which don't have any electric charge at all - they will still have pressure.

Hope this spurs you on a bit.
 
The rope is tied into the person (the load of 200 pounds) and the rope goes up from the person to a fixed pulley and back down to his hands. He hauls the rope to suspend himself in the air. What is the mechanical advantage of the system? The person will indeed only have to lift half of his body weight (roughly 100 pounds) because he now lessened the load by that same amount. This APPEARS to be a 2:1 because he can hold himself with half the force, but my question is: is that mechanical...
Hello everyone, Consider the problem in which a car is told to travel at 30 km/h for L kilometers and then at 60 km/h for another L kilometers. Next, you are asked to determine the average speed. My question is: although we know that the average speed in this case is the harmonic mean of the two speeds, is it also possible to state that the average speed over this 2L-kilometer stretch can be obtained as a weighted average of the two speeds? Best regards, DaTario
Some physics textbook writer told me that Newton's first law applies only on bodies that feel no interactions at all. He said that if a body is on rest or moves in constant velocity, there is no external force acting on it. But I have heard another form of the law that says the net force acting on a body must be zero. This means there is interactions involved after all. So which one is correct?
Back
Top