• Question: What is weaker, the gravity of the earth or the electromagnetism of a human?

    Asked by Hexenbiest to Christie, Dan, David, Dawn, Sian on 17 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: David Robertson

      David Robertson answered on 17 Jun 2016:

      I’m not sure what you mean by the electromagnetism of a human. Gravity is actually a very weak force, the reason we feel it gravity so strongly is that the earth is very massive indeed.
      Electrostatic forces are very strong compared to gravity. You can make a balloon stick to the ceiling by rubbing it a little – this is electrostatic forces overcoming gravitational forces.

    • Photo: Sian Thomas

      Sian Thomas answered on 18 Jun 2016:

      Good answer David – but in reality would this not mean that humans could levitate – which would be fun but certainly not something I have observed!

    • Photo: Dawn Lau

      Dawn Lau answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      Hm…we all have very weak electromagnetic fields, but I’m not sure you could compare our electromagnetic fields to gravity! I would think gravity is a stronger force than a human’s electromagnetic field, otherwise we would be able to do very weird things (like moving objects without touching them?)! I’m not an expert in this though!

Comments