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Q & A: Pushing and Pulling.. Forces

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Q:
hi, i’m doing a project on force could u please help me find info on: forces of attraction and repulsion and contact thanks
- Megan (age 13)
A:
Megan -

There's a lot of information out there on all different kinds of forces. And it's not very hard to find, either. Probably the best known attractive force is gravity. The electrostatic force can be either attractive or repulsive, as can magnetic forces. The best known contact force is probably friction (which is really just due to electric forces between the atoms of two objects). For information on some of these, check out the answers to these questions:

Gravity:
Gravity All Around Us
Gravity
Why Gravity?
Artificial Gravity

Nuclear Forces:
How are nuclear forces acting in between the protons in the nucleus?

Magnetism:
How do magnets work?
How do you make a magnet?
What are ferrous materials?

Friction:
What is friction?
Slowing Everything Down
Why Friction?
Tribology: The Study of Friction

-Tamara

(published on 10/22/2007)

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