If you have 2 iron spheres and a magnet, the lighter sphere will move first to the magnet. But with earths gravity fall tests we know that every object falls with the same speed when dropped no matter theirs weight. What makes it different?
In: Physics
You’re comparing apples and oranges. Gravity and electromagnetism are two very different forces.
Suffice to say that gravity pulls more strongly on more massive objects, but a magnet pulls equally regardless of the objects mass.
While gravity causes objects to fall at the same rate, regardless of mass, it does so because the more massive the object, the stronger the pull of gravity, but also the more inertia the object has which needs to be overcome in order to make it move. So the more massive object is pulled harder, but because it is more massive it takes more energy to change it’s velocity. It balances out and all objects fall at the same rate (in a vacuum)
Magnetism on the other hand doesn’t operate the same way. The more massive object still has more momentum and inertia, but the magnetic attraction or repulsion of it does not grow just because it is heavier. If the magnet were larger, then it would be attracted faster, but so would the smaller object and it would still arrive first.
The reason is that the magnetic pull on the 2 iron spheres is essentially the same regardless of their mass, but their difference in mass causes one to accelerate slower than the lighter one.
Latest Answers