The questions-you-feel-you-ought-to-know-the-answer-to Thread

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Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
Excited photons

Light, hmm?

Take a magnet in space, does it still work?
 
But what is the magnetic field composed of, and what causes the physical force ?
Magnetic fields use photons, the same as light - it's transmitted by waves.
AFAIK the physical force is a result of the universe wanting to equalise differences in charge, which is about as good an answer as "It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together. Use the force, Luke"

From watching far too much youtube, there are five fundamental forces that bind matter together in the universe:
- gravity (mass attracting mass by causing space and time to bend (This is what happens when you let mathematicians and physicists get drunk together)
- electromagnetism
- weak nuclear force (something quantum which I steer well clear of out of fear of having my brain scrambled by funny made up words like "quark" and "muon" and animal cruelty involving placing bets on radioactive cats)
- strong nuclear force (the attractive force that keeps the subatomic particles in atoms together)
- the US military when it learns of a country with oil
 
But what is the magnetic field composed of, and what causes the physical force ?

Excited photons

Take a magnet in space, does it still work?

No, space is too boring.
 
Light, hmm?

Take a magnet in space, does it still work?
We're on the surface of a giant magnet in space.
If they didn't work, compasses would be useless. *

because the upper atmosphere would be stripped away by solar wind and the surface would be sterilised by solar radiation
 
But how does it work, what is the magnetic field made of?
Best guess: wave-particles of energy. I don't have a good answer, unlike gravity which at least has ball+rubber sheet analogy to fall back on whenever the "it bends spacetime" answer is trotted out.
 
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