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I don't think this is true. Let's assume every matter is our solar system is actually not neutral, but slightly positively charged. For Sun-Earth, let's say thi
by davrosthedalek 10y ago
I don't think this is true. Let's assume every matter is our solar system is actually not neutral, but slightly positively charged. For Sun-Earth, let's say this reduces the effective force by 1%. Since both Coulomb and gravitational attraction has the same power law, this fixes the change everywhere, or in other words, you could absorb the change into the gravitational constant. Same goes for making everything 1% less dense.
- adekok 10y agoThat's not how physics works. We've measured the charge of base particles, we know their charge to 8 decimal places. (e.g. for electrons). There is simply no way for the force of electromagnetism to be different at the scale of solar systems. Even MOND is a tiny modification to Newtons laws, and only a modification in extreme circumstances.
- davrosthedalek 10y agoI think you misunderstood my post. My parent post argued that a mass-proportional charge imbalance big enough to cause a measurable change in gravitation would have catastrophic consequences for planets. Indeed, this is not true, the effects on the planet are of the same scale, i.e. ridiculously small. Of course, as I wrote, both laws follow the same power-law, so this can not solve the dark matter problem. Indeed you can absorb it in the gravitational constant. I also did not suggest that electromagnetism should be different at the scale of solar systems. A test of the charge equivalence of protons and electrons to 8 digits is by far not good enough to rule this out. You have to probe the proton charge to ~1E-20 for a 1% change of the gravitational effect. This is beyond the reach even for atomic level measurements. More interesting are the bounds on charge conservation.