what is the range of electromagnetic force?
Answers
hey dude,
The term electromagnetism combines the electric and magnetic forces into a single word because both forces are due to the same underlying phenomenon. “Charged” particles generate electric fields, and positive and negative charges react to that field differently, which explains the force we observe. For electric interactions, positively charged particles (like protons) push away positively charged particles and attract negatively charged ones (like electrons), and vice versa. Electric field lines spread directly outward from positive electric charges, and this pushes particles in the direction of – or in the opposite direction to – the field lines.
Magnetism comes from magnetic fields, which are generated by moving charges. Particles don’t respond to magnetic fields in the same way as they do to electric fields. Magnetic field lines form circles, with no beginning or end. In response to them, particles move in a direction perpendicular to both their motion and the field line. As with electric forces, positively charged particles and negatively charged ones move in opposite directions.
The strength of a force between two bodies or particles as a function of the separation distance is called the range. As you point out the range of the electromagnetic and gravitational forces goes a 1/r². In the technical jargon it's called an infinite range. In the case of nuclear, or strong forces, the range is about the size of a medium sized nucleus, 10to the power of -15meters In the case of the weak force it's much smaller, about 10to the power of -18meters. These latter two forces fall off much more rapidly than 1/r² exponentially or worse.