| ManusJustus said: Of the four fundamental forces, strong force, weak force, and electromagnetic force are attractive and repulsive. Gravity is only attractive, or so we think, as it is very difficult to measure the effect of gravity over long distances. |
But its their attraction or repulsion doesn't depend on distance does it?
I'm fairly sure that strong interaction doesn't change from attraction to repulsion depending on distance (because strong interaction remains constant over any distance), electromagnetic force is only repulsive/attractive depending on the charge of the particles. The only one I'm not sure about is weak interaction which I really know almost nothing about.
Your example of the nuclei coming together is explained by the fact that at short distances the attraction from residual nuclear force is more powerful than electromagnetic repulsion, rather than a reversal within a force due to distance.
Edit: @SSJ. The orbit of the planets can be (and has been) explained without having to have a repulsive gravitational force. Its simply centripetal force.
