BREAKING NEWS: Aliens from the planet, Eyedoughnt Beleevu have invaded Earth! The planet that the aliens are from don't have the same laws of physics as us. They have never heard of gravity or electromagnetism and don't believe that it is real. It is our job to explain and prove that electromagnetism and gravity is real.
Defintion: Gravity is the attractive force between any two masses. For example, on Earth gravity is what causes things to stay on the ground and not float off into space. Also, when people throw things up into the air, the gravitational force pulls the object back down to the ground.
The cause of gravity: Gravity is caused when objects cause dents in space according to Einstein's theory. Space is the physical thing all around us also called “fabric”. When the fabric is dented by a mass we get a certain amount of gravity depending on the size and weight of the mass. Let's take Earth for example, since Earth is a large mass it causes more bending in the fabric. Hence, more bending in fabric, means more gravity.
You can manipulate gravity to make it stronger or weaker. You can do this by changing the variables that affect the strength of gravity without the objects even touching, those variables are mass and distance. If you were to take a bowling ball and a tennis ball and put them next to each other, the gravity would change, making the balls attraction stronger. Hence, more mass equals more attraction/gravity and vise versa. Also, if you were to take a tennis ball and a tennis ball and move them farther away from each other the gravity would become weaker. Hence, greater distance equals less attraction/gravity and vise versa.
Q. Which object will fall first when dropped at the same time and height, a bowling ball or a tennis ball?
A. The two objects will fall at the same time because it doesn't matter the weight of any two objects. What I mean by this is, although an object may be heavier, it has more inertia, and although an object may be lighter, it has less inertia. The ratio to force to inertia is the same for all objects. Therefore, any two objects dropped at the same time and at the same height will fall at the same time.
The gravity simulation lab backs up the way you can make gravity stronger or weaker. This is because my group members and I started playing around with the website and discovered the two variables that make the gravity between two objects stronger or weaker. We discovered that when we made one of the sphere’s mass bigger the gravity become stronger (and vise versa). Also when we moved the two spheres farther from each other the gravity became weaker (and vise versa). Which proves that the two variables that make gravity stronger or weaker are mass and distance.
Q. If an object is bigger than another, does that mean that it has more gravity?
A. It turns out that size actually does not effect gravity. Just because something has a larger mass doesn't mean it is bigger, and if it has a smaller mass doesn't mean it is smaller in size. Like mentioned before, the only two variables to effect gravity are mass and distance.
Breakdown of EM: Electromagnetism is when electric fields and magnetic fields interact with each other causing a strong magnetic pull. Magnets either have a negative or positive charge. Opposite charges attract each other (positive and negative) and like forces repel (positive and positive, or negative and negative). The stronger the force, the stronger the pull and the weaker the force the weaker the pull. This force can still be experienced even when two objects aren't in direct contact. This is because the force can move from one place to another due to electric currents that travel (electrons)
The cause of EM: Moving electrons get paired with other unpaired protons, therefore creating tiny magnets. When many of the magnets are paired together they create one big magnet. This magnet also contains electricity from the electrons.
In order to make this force stronger, you must have more unpaired electrons and protons which will create a stronger magnet. For example, the more electrons you have means it can be paired with more protons making it stronger. If there are less electrons and protons that will make the force weaker.
Q. Why is it that it's always the electrons that are moving? Why not the protons?
A.This is because electrons are located on the outer layer of the atom whereas protons are closely packed in the nucleus.
To provide a visual, in the electromagnet lab we used a Battery to show electromagnetism. By using a battery with a higher voltage, that allows more electrons to be moved more quickly and paired with the protons. Also, the wire wrapped around the nail provides a path for the electrons. The closer and more coils there are means it is easier for the electrons to travel through it because the magnetic fields are being added together. Like I mentioned before this creates a stronger magnet which is shown by the amount of paperclips we were able to pick up with the higher voltage battery.
Q. Does the amount of coils of wire affect how many electrons are flowing?
A. No, the coils do not affect the current of electrons. What the coils do is add up magnetic fields, like I mentioned before which makes the overall magnet stronger.
The magnetic field is the area around the magnet. This field allows for the movement of electric charges which power the magnet.
Magnets, specifically electromagnets are an attractive force meaning that they pull on objects. Any other material that is magnetic will be attracted to it by being pulled together by the electrons from one magnet pairing with protons from the other.
Q. You said that electromagnetism is felt by a pull. Is it possible for this force to push objects?
A. Yes, this is possible. If you face two of the same poles towards each other; for example negative and negative or positive and positive, they will want to repel against each other which basically means they are pushing away from each other.
To finish this off, it is important that we breakdown how these two forces are alike and different. They are alike because both gravity and electromagnetism can become stronger or weaker if you change the correct variables. Which also means that gravity and electromagnetism both have variables that affect the strength of their force. Both gravity and electromagnetism exists between objects even when objects aren't touching. They can also be different because a big part of electromagnets is how they are created from movement. Electromagnets rely on the moving electrons to pair with protons and create a strong magnet, whereas for gravity is based off of mass and distance of the objects.
We are sending these aliens off with their new knowledge of gravity and electromagnetism!