Some people who try to deny the Cavendish Experiment say that the masses attract each other because of the atoms, not gravity. Doesn't an atom have a null electric field by nature? Is there any other way they could attract each other?
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5$\begingroup$ Had not heard of Cavendish deniers before. Like most other (all?) deniers it usually is not worth the bother of arguing with them since they are unlikely to be convinced by actual physical arguements. $\endgroup$– Jon CusterCommented Sep 5, 2023 at 18:31
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1$\begingroup$ @JonCuster If their argument against Cavendish is based on electromagnetic effects they're likely to be Electric Universe crackpots physics.stackexchange.com/q/18950 $\endgroup$– PM 2RingCommented Sep 5, 2023 at 19:02
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$\begingroup$ @PM2Ring Trust me, it's way worse than that. $\endgroup$– docaCommented Sep 5, 2023 at 19:04
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2$\begingroup$ Electrostatic effects are an important systematic effect in Cavendish/Eotvos-type experiments. The modern generation of high-precision torision-balance experiments, which are consistent with Newtonian gravity down to micron distances, have very clever systems for cancelling the electrostatic force between the masses. The most important group is at University of Washington; see npl.washington.edu/eotwash/node/1 $\endgroup$– rob ♦Commented Sep 6, 2023 at 6:21
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To a high degree of precision, an atom is electrically neutral at macroscopic distances. This means that the atoms in the cavendish weights are incapable of exerting electrostatic forces on one another in the cavendish experiments- unless they are not electrically shorted to each other and tied to earth ground, as the experiment requires.
Fans of crank physics wouldn't be fans at all if they actually took the time and had the ability to understand the topic. They usually get in trouble with the math and for that reason find it easier to latch onto one crackpot fantasy or another that, being fantasies, contain no math.
And, being crackpots themselves, it is impossible to convince them of the truth. As such, attempting to reason with them is a complete waste of time.
answered Sep 6, 2023 at 6:42