Will the natural forces last forever?

[QuantumT]

I can't imagine that gravity will ever fade away, but what about the strong nuclear force and the electromagnetic force? Do they have an expiration date?
Will atoms one day lose their energy and fall apart? If not, how is it possible for them to preserve their energy?

Edited January 14, 2020 by QuantumT

[Huckleberry of Yore]

Wouldn't gravity essentially "fade away" if every indivisible instance with mass were separated by space so that gravitational attraction would be negligible?  I suppose that means each is separated from all others by an infinite space (or would it?).  That's a lot of space but there seems to plenty of that.

[QuantumT]

10 minutes ago, Huckleberry of Yore said:

Wouldn't gravity essentially "fade away" if every indivisible instance with mass were separated by space so that gravitational attraction would be negligible?  I suppose that means each is separated from all others by an infinite space (or would it?).  That's a lot of space but there seems to plenty of that.

I wouldn't call that 'fading', but more its means of influence being taken away. I imagine it would come back, if the right circumstances were to arise somehow.

Edited January 14, 2020 by QuantumT

[Sensei]

In classical physics there is not boundary where force is literally reaching absolute zero. Equations just follow inverse-square law, or inverse-cubic law, etc. and vice versa in the other direction. That is often pointed out argument, by some people on this forum ("antiscience crackpots"), against quantum physics i.e. "why electron does not fall to nucleus".

1 hour ago, QuantumT said:

If not, how is it possible for them to preserve their energy?

Energy is property of particle.

Kinetic energy of particle or molecule, rotational energy of particle or molecule, is "lost" during collision with other particles. "lost" means that other particles will be created, which will carry on that energy away of place where collision happened. i.e. accelerated electron by electron gun, toward e.g. phosphorescent screen, will lose its kinetic energy after collision with the screen, and new photon(s) will be created which will carry on that energy away. Feature which was used in early CRT old TVs.

Essential potential energy of particle ("mass-energy") is converted to kinetic energy of newly made particles during annihilation with antimatter (electron and positron). In the case of other particle-antiparticle pair annihilation is much more complicated (part of energy converts to rest-mass of newly created particles e.g. meson PI).

Part of mass-energy of nuclei (or nucleus) is converted to kinetic energy of newly made particles during fusion, fission and radioactive decay.

 

 

Edited January 14, 2020 by Sensei

[John Cuthber]

In order for the force to "fade away"  there would need to be some sort of clock/ calendar telling it to do so (and keeping synchronized across the universe).
How is that plausible?

[studiot]

4 hours ago, QuantumT said:

I can't imagine that gravity will ever fade away, but what about the strong nuclear force and the electromagnetic force? Do they have an expiration date?
Will atoms one day lose their energy and fall apart? If not, how is it possible for them to preserve their energy?

Asimov's hypothesis eh?

Since it takes no energy to exert a force, why would it loose energy to simply be quiescent ?

[MigL]

The Electroweak force changed and lost range of some of its interactions ( by some of its quantum field particles gaining mass due to the Higgs mechanism ) shortly after the Big Bang, due to a symmetry break.
I don't see that happening again anytime soon.

But I have been wrong before.
( although no-one will be around to say "I told you so" if it does happen )

[J.C.MacSwell]

11 minutes ago, MigL said:

The Electroweak force changed and lost range of some of its interactions ( by some of its quantum field particles gaining mass due to the Higgs mechanism ) shortly after the Big Bang, due to a symmetry break.
I don't see that happening again anytime soon.

But I have been wrong before.
( although no-one will be around to say "I told you so" if it does happen )

True...even if that symmetry break happened tomorrow...

[swansont]

16 hours ago, QuantumT said:

I can't imagine that gravity will ever fade away, but what about the strong nuclear force and the electromagnetic force? Do they have an expiration date?
Will atoms one day lose their energy and fall apart? If not, how is it possible for them to preserve their energy?

How would they lose their energy? They aren't doing work.

Absent a change in the laws of physics, no. Forces do not expire. The electrostatic force depends on the charges and the separation distance. The way you change the force is by reconfiguring the charge distribution, and energy will be conserved in doing this.