Are you one of those physicists who keep saying that gravity is a weak force ?

Question

Is it ok if I park a 40 ton truck on your foot ?

Answer 1

Gravity is much weaker than the other forces. That's all that physicists are trying to say.
Consider this: you can put a magnet on your refrigerator -- that means that the magnetic force exerted by the magnet is stronger than the gravitational force exerted by the ENTIRE PLANET!

Answer 2

Compared to the other 3 forces, gravity has the weakest action. "Weak" has no relation to what a humna experiences. You mention a 40 ton truck - that's about 355 kN in metric units. The center of the earth is 6378 km away fromt he surface where my poor foot and that truck are located. An electric charge of -40x10^3 Columbs at the center of the earth and an equal magnitude but opposite polarity charge at the surface exert the same force of attraction as teh earth to the 40 ton truck. Now all I need is 2.5 x 10^23 protons (and same number of electrons) which has a mass of 0.4 mg - the weight of that is 0.00392 Nt, or 0.00082 pounds.

That's why gravity is called the weakest of the four.

Answer 3

gravity is indeed the weakest of the 4 forces. (or 3 if you prefer to combine electro-weak. or 2 if you prefer to combine electro-nuclear.)

the reason why it has such an effect is simple. the 2 nuclear forces work at too small a range for us to notice. and electromagnetism has 2 charges, positive and negative, so for the most part they cancel each other out. but there is no such thing as negative gravity; gravity just adds up. so cumulatively it has a greater effect.

gravity is so weak that a tiny little toy magnet can pick up a paperclip, totally overpower the force of the earth's gravity on it.

Answer 4

no it isn't, dummy!! but still gravity remains a weak force because relatively if you calculate the attraction between two electrically charged bodies or nucleons, you would find the force between them greater than that of gravitational force.(provided that the charges are same in the bodies). though you may not get the above answers, imagine two magnets attracting each other. it can overcome gravity! and you can try that 40 ton truck thing.

i can pick it up with the help of scrap cranes, which lift up metallic objects through electromagnetic attraction, and simply blow it up!

Answer 5

how can it be a weak force when it keeps everything from crashing into everything? planets, black holes and speaking of them look what gravity does in a black hole!