We all know the equations for the force due to gravity (Gm1m2/r^2) and the force due to charge (kq1q2/r^2) and probably have thought about how similar they are. For the most part it's been chalked up to merely a striking coincidence, but after watching this video it would almost seem like there is a greater force (haHA!) at play.
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We can see the water droplets orbiting the charged knitting needle in an elliptical fashion, as they would if they were planetary bodies orbiting a massive star. The droplets speed up as they near the needle, and slow down as they become farther away, following Kepler's laws. Is this why the early diagrams of the atom show the electrons orbiting the nucleus, as moons orbit their planets? We of course now know that isn't accurate, but I can see how it would not have been at one point a big stretch to think that way.
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