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protonman
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Why do like charges repel and opposite charges attract?
That doesn't answer the question. Anyone can observe that they do behave as I asked and make up an equation to show that. What I am asking is a more physical explanation.chroot said:Because, according to Coulomb's law,
[tex]F = \frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0} \frac{q_1 q_2}{R^2}[/tex]
the charges are multiplied together. When their signs are the same, the force is positive, representing a repulsion. When their signs are opposite, the force is negative, representing an attraction.
- Warren
What if Einstein just decided to "not worry" about the incompatibility between Maxwell's equations and Galilean relativity? You thinking is surprising for a scientist.chroot said:What you're asking for is not a physical explanation; you're asking for a philosophical explanation. No one knows why there happen to be two kinds of electric charge (instead of four or nineteen) or why they work as they do. Even if one day a theory does present a logical reason for such behavior, we'll have to question the reasons why that theory exists, and so on, ad infinitum. Eventually, at a deep enough level, we'll just have to be assuaged with one of two beliefs:
1) It just is that way, and there's no deeper reason.
2) God, or some other sentient being, chose for it to be that way.
Personally, I'd just invoke the anthropic principle and not worry about it anymore.
- Warren
Strong or weak anthropic principle?Personally, I'd just invoke the anthropic principle and not worry about it anymore.
How is this?chroot said:That's quite a different worry.
- Warren
The term "we" in your quote is quite strong. Do you speak for all physicists?We don't generally care too much about the philosophy of WHY that particular theory is correct, since it's pretty much a rhetorical question.
How do you come to this conclusion?chroot said:Not for all, I'd imagine -- but certainly for the vast majority.
- Warren
Have you read the writings of the vast majority?chroot said:I read the things other physicists write. I converse with other physicists.
- Warren
First of all you can't speculate what the majority of physicists would say. As someone who claims to be involved in science it seems strange you would present something like that without evidence.Integral said:Warren,
You seem to be on the right track as far as I know. I think few Physicts would argue with you.
Protonman,
What is your point? Have you ever spoken to ANY physicists?
Without a doubt you were hearing exactly what you wanted to hear without understanding a word that was said.protonman said:First of all you can't speculate what the majority of physicists would say. As someone who claims to be involved in science it seems strange you would present something like that without evidence.
Second, I spent plenty of time with physicists and I have listened to many. From my personal experience your view does not represent the views of those scientists I have had encounters with.
Many views.Nereid said:What views have they expressed to you?
Who cares that is still only a few professors and staff. One university does not constitute the physics community. In fact, even within a community you are likely to get a divergence of opinion.Integral said:Oh yeah, I spent 8 yrs working in the Physics department of a major research university.
Oh boy you are so cool.So, yes, I have spent some time around Physicists, both professionally and personally (ie around a keg of beer).
And it only took this long to get a reasonable answer. This is a good start.hellfire said:I do not remember exactly the details, but I remember have read in the first chapters of Zee ‘Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell’ that opposite charges repel for odd-spin fields and attract for even-spin fields. The propagator of the electromagnetic force, the photon, has spin 1. This would be at least a partial answer to the question.
Regards.
Would you be so kind as to elaborate?protonman said:Many views.
On the surface, this would seem to be a fairly straight-forward thing to research. For example, using the techniques of market research (tho' I rather doubt that YouGov or Pew have ever done such a survey :tongue: ).protonman said:First of all you can't speculate what the majority of physicists would say. As someone who claims to be involved in science it seems strange you would present something like that without evidence.
Second, I spent plenty of time with physicists and I have listened to many. From my personal experience your view does not represent the views of those scientists I have had encounters with.
Like charges repel each other due to the fundamental force of electromagnetism. This force is caused by the exchange of photons between charged particles. When two particles have the same charge, the repulsive force between them is stronger than the attractive force, causing them to repel.
Opposite charges attract each other due to the fundamental force of electromagnetism. The exchange of photons between charged particles creates an attractive force. Since opposite charges have a different polarity, the attractive force is stronger than the repulsive force, causing them to attract.
The force between two charged particles is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This means that as the distance between two charged particles increases, the force between them decreases. Therefore, the closer two charged particles are, the stronger the repulsive or attractive force between them will be.
No, like charges cannot attract each other. The fundamental force of electromagnetism only allows for repulsion between particles with the same charge. However, in certain situations, such as with polar molecules, the positive and negative charges within the molecule can create an overall attraction between two molecules.
Understanding the forces between charged particles is crucial in many fields of science, such as chemistry, physics, and engineering. It helps us understand the behavior of atoms and molecules, the properties of materials, and the functioning of electronic devices. It is also essential in fields like medicine, as many biological processes involve the interaction of charged particles.