SCIENCE WATCH

⚡️ Electrostatic Gravity? Sounds Good—But It Fails Physics 101

Some gravity deniers claim that objects “fall” because of electrostatic attraction between a negatively charged Earth and neutral or positively charged objects.

But that’s wrong—and here’s why.

💡 Charge Can’t Just Appear Out of Nowhere

According to one of the most fundamental laws of physics:

Charge is always conserved.

You can’t create a negative charge without creating an equal and opposite positive charge.

So:

If Earth somehow became negatively charged, where’s the equal positive charge?

Any object attracted due to this would also need to be charged—otherwise electrostatics wouldn’t act on it.

Neutral objects don’t move toward charges unless polarized—and polarization effects are minuscule compared to gravity.

⚖️ Let’s Do the Math (Roughly)

Electrostatic force is governed by Coulomb’s law:

F=k⋅q1⋅q2r2F=r2k⋅q1​⋅q2​​

To make an object accelerate at 9.8 m/s², you’d need huge amounts of charge.

For a 1 kg object, the gravitational force is 9.8 N.

You’d need Coulomb forces on the same order to replace gravity—and that would create electric fields strong enough to shock everyone and cause sparks constantly.

Earth would be a giant Van de Graaff generator. But it's not—we don't observe such electric discharges in everyday life.

⚡️ Also: Electrostatic Forces Don’t Work Equally on All Materials

Gravity pulls everything down equally: lead, feathers, wood, plastic.

Electrostatic attraction varies by material properties, charge, and conductivity.

If electrostatics caused “down,” insulators and conductors would fall differently. They don’t.