I believe it was a Leonard Susskind lecture[1] where he said, if the electromagnetic force were unitary like gravity (not positive and negative) and therefore c

I believe it was a Leonard Susskind lecture[1] where he said, if the electromagnetic force were unitary like gravity (not positive and negative) and therefore couldn't be balanced to near-0 in a single object, the force of attraction between two grains of sand at each end of the lecture hall (say, 15 meters) would be 3,000 tonnes. I'm probably butchering the numbers, but the electromagnetic force is wildly strong, and this thought experiment always stuck with me. Another consequence is that, while black holes can have charge, we don't expect them to in nature—they'll very quickly suck up whatever it takes to balance them from surrounding space.[2] [1] One of these: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQrxduI9Pds1fm91Dmn8x1lo-O_kpZGk8 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQrxduI9Pds1fm91Dmn8x... [2] Via one of Sean Carroll's "Biggest Ideas in the Universe" videos