From: Chris (Avatar) 02/10/2001 9:15:25 Subject: re: Types of Force post id: 437061 How do the forces rank in strength? Depends on the scale. From strongest to weakest: At galactic scale - gravity, e/m, weak, strong At quark-quark scale - strong, weak, e/m, gravity At proton-proton scale - strong, e/m, weak, gravity At atomic scale - e/m, weak, strong, gravity At person-person scale - e/m, gravity, weak, strong Some of the reasons for these differing results at different scales are: * Gravity and e/m are infinite in range, strong and weak are limited range. * Of the unlimited range interactions gravity is always cumulative (gravitational charge is always attractive), but e/m is not (it can be attractive or repulsive). * Not all particles couple to all interactions. Hope this helps! Chris This forum is un-moderated. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual poster and not the ABC. The ABC reserves the right to remove offensive or inappropriate messages.