Buoyancy is an interesting concept. Today I might suggest that it applies to more than just helium balloons and Styrofoam floating on water. There are a lot of concepts of density and many of them may be additive. That is to say the more atoms and molecules we have the more of this force we observe. We know that the buoyancy of very large objects such as cargo freighters is so solid it resembles the ground itself.
But what of electrons and ions? They have relative densities that correlate with the density of the matter itself at any point. The sheer number of particles can be impossible for the human mind to comprehend. Ten to the twenty particles is an amount of matter that is hard to think of on a particle by particle basis.
So if we have electrons that are bond but not always rigidly bound to an internal nucleus then what do we find as a part of a larger mass? The electrons will float up and even bring a small number of light ions with them. The heavy will sink - gravity - therefore.
When we consider a helium balloon rising we like to focus on the helium - less dense - rising. We don't focus on the fact that the Nitrogen in the air is falling. This is not gravity but it may make up a small part.
Electromagnetism fills in the gaps. There is a circuit like nature to a large mass such as our planet. Electrons rise quickly and fall back towards the center of mass in a step by step manner.
No comments:
Post a Comment