• Atlas_@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I know not enough physics to tell if this is reasonable but…

    What if there’s not just 4 base forces but 5, or an infinite class of them? Say something that falls off sub-quadratically but with a significantly lower constant than gravity? Or a whole class of forces that fall off less and less slowly, but have smaller and smaller constants as they do?

    • cynar@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      The forces, to be a useful modelling tool, need a medium to interact with matter. E.g. an equivalent of charge would always be zero, if matter didn’t have the ability to have charge. At that point, it effectively doesn’t exist.

      Interestingly, the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces are also aspects of the same force. They unify at high enough energy levels. They only appear different. The exception is gravity. It doesn’t fit the mould. Basically we don’t currently have 4 forces, but only 2. Scientists suspect it’s actually only 1, but can’t yet unify gravity into a theory of everything via a theory of quantum gravity.

      • Zannsolo@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        But isn’t gravity a function of spacetime not matter? Where’s the others are all behaviors of matter? Like there isn’t a gravity partical or a spacetime partical.