Steven and Mark, Yes that is what I mean. More to the point we take it for granted that gravitational forces can be compared to electrostatic forces. But what are we doing when we say gravity is so much weaker than electromagnetism? This "truth" is repeated often but I would argue it is a persistent illusion.
Unlike forces, lengths and masses can be objectively compared without standard lenght units. It is objectively true that Mt. Everest is much taller than than my house because their heights can be compared without recourse to a standard of unit of length. Similiarly, it is objectively true that the mass of the proton is much greater than the mass of the electron. However, to compare the strength of gravity to the strength of electrostatically charged body, requires a standard body of a given mass and given charge. The hope is that nature comes with its own standards, so we don't have to impose our own standards. The modern way to find unity in nature is to standardise everything but I think this approach is at best metaphysically misleading and at worst spiritually bankrupt. Harry On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 4:38 PM, Mark Iverson-ZeroPoint <zeropo...@charter.net> wrote: > Steven: > I believe he means 'units' and 'unit-less'... as in volts/meter for > electrostatic field strength. He doesn’t mean dimensions as in x,y,z,t > dimensions. > > -----Original Message----- > From: OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson [mailto:svj.orionwo...@gmail.com] > Sent: Monday, January 09, 2012 1:01 PM > To: vortex-l@eskimo.com > Subject: Re: [Vo]:What is the aggregate electrical charge of our sun? > > From Harry: > >> The ratio is also dimensionless but the ratio of the strength of the >> sun's electrostatic field to its gravitational field is not >> dimensionless. > > Can you clarify what is implied when using the term "dimension" and > "dimensionless" here. > > It doesn't compute for me. > > Regards > Steven Vincent Johnson > www.OrionWorks.com > www.zazzle.com/orionworks >
