- #1
Wes Turner
- 68
- 14
I volunteered to help tutor students in a nearby high school in math and science. I got two seniors from an AP Physics class. I'm doing OK with most of the problems, but it's been almost 50 years since my last physics class, so I'm more than a little rusty in some details. I'm hoping I can get some help here from time to time.
In the tutoring sessions today, one of the kids brought in a test question that she got wrong. The question asked the students to describe the situations where gravity is the dominant force and explain why.
In a previous handout, the teacher had said that gravity is 30 orders of magnitude weaker than the electromagnetic force, 29 orders of magnitude weaker than the weak nuclear force, and 37 orders of magnitude weaker than the strong nuclear force.
Here's what I think the correct answer is. I'd appreciate any corrections or additions.
Gravity is dominant when the masses and/or distances are large. Gravity dominates the electromagnetic force because the EM force is usually neutral for large masses, like the earth, which have roughly equal numbers of electrons and protons. Gravity dominates the strong force because the strong force acts over very short distances (less than the radius of the nucleus). I don't really understand what the weak force is, so could not answer that part of the question.
Any help anyone?
Thanks
PS: I checked the tickbox saying that I used the template, but I'm not sure I really did. This question did not seem to fit the template well. Should I post this in some other section?
In the tutoring sessions today, one of the kids brought in a test question that she got wrong. The question asked the students to describe the situations where gravity is the dominant force and explain why.
In a previous handout, the teacher had said that gravity is 30 orders of magnitude weaker than the electromagnetic force, 29 orders of magnitude weaker than the weak nuclear force, and 37 orders of magnitude weaker than the strong nuclear force.
Here's what I think the correct answer is. I'd appreciate any corrections or additions.
Gravity is dominant when the masses and/or distances are large. Gravity dominates the electromagnetic force because the EM force is usually neutral for large masses, like the earth, which have roughly equal numbers of electrons and protons. Gravity dominates the strong force because the strong force acts over very short distances (less than the radius of the nucleus). I don't really understand what the weak force is, so could not answer that part of the question.
Any help anyone?
Thanks
PS: I checked the tickbox saying that I used the template, but I'm not sure I really did. This question did not seem to fit the template well. Should I post this in some other section?