Can physics explain why LDRs don’t work?

When you think about physics and feelings they don’t seem to cross often. But, there is a physics principle that might be able to explain why long distance relationships don’t work.

Many college students embark on the long distance relationship train when first entering college. They believe their high school sweetheart might just be the one. For some, it works out. But for others, it becomes a complete disaster. I’m not saying you shouldn’t try, but I am saying that science might be able to prove that this won’t work.

Physics is an interesting sub division of science since its theories can actually be proven. Physics is a science that can be seen everywhere in our daily lives and therefore leads us to believe that it is accurate. It is made up of many theories and interestingly, laws. Most parts of science are more hesitant to say that something is true beyond any reasonable doubt, but physics is able to do this since its findings are tangible.

One physics law, Newton’s law of universal gravitation, might be even more relatable than we thought. This lesser-known Newton law, accompanied by the equation F=Gmm/ r^2 , explains a phenomenon that many college students have been on the forefront of. This equation shows the attraction between any two particles in the universe. If you play around with the trends of the equation, you’ll see that as the radius gets larger, the value for F gets smaller. Let’s break down what this means. Ignore G, it is just the gravitational constant so it never changes. The radius in question here would be the distance between the two particles (which are ‘m’ and ‘m’ in the equation. What this is calculating, F, is the attraction force between the two masses. This means that as two masses move further apart (causing a rising value for r), their attraction force weakens.

unknown

This equation was so important that there’s even another one, Coulomb’s law: F=kqq/ r^2. This version of the equation shows the same trends but this time measures how that trend is also consistent in quantum physics with the forces between charges. This is interesting because not many trends are constant through different subsets of physics but this one manages to hold true.

Contrary to the belief that absence makes the heart grow fonder, Newton’s law and Coulomb’s law say that distance in fact makes any two particles less attracted. But as we know, love is much deeper than the attraction of particles. So what does this mean for all the hopeless romantics out there that are praying their LDR will work? It means you should still give it a try. While physics seems to say this is a no go, many studies prove otherwise so don’t let physics discourage you completely. I mean it worked out for Erin and Garret in “Going the Distance” so who’s Newton to say it won’t work out for us?

tumblr_mc94niqfce1radkdxo1_500

If I just totally bummed you out about your own LDR, you can read more about how to make it work here.

Images found here and here.

3 thoughts on “Can physics explain why LDRs don’t work?

  1. rbl5123

    Not so sure how I feel about physics explaining my relationship. My boyfriend is in the military and is currently on a six month deployment to Japan. I can honestly say our relationship has gotten stronger since he left. When you’re not physically with someone it forces you to actually talk about things that matter. I’ve never had a better relationship than I do now, and we plan on getting married when he gets back. I guess physics could explain it, but I think it actually depends on the couple.

    1. Nicole Trachman Post author

      I completely agree that it depends on the couple! For many people it works out I just thought this could be an interesting way to look at it! In this post I kept it strictly to the physics side of the argument but there are many things I have read and thought to be interesting on the actual psychological/ emotional side of being in a long distance relationship. The most shocking part to me was that being apart helped many couples grow closer and in the majority of them that do break up, the break up doesn’t actually occur until they are reunited. I have noticed in my own relationship that this feeling of being closer while apart is hugely due to technology since we rely on video chat and text messages to connect. I can’t imagine how people did this without any technology back in the day! Here are some more articles I read while writing this that you might be interested in reading.
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-michaelis-phd/love-and-relationships_b_4731003.html
      https://www.buzzfeed.com/jeremybender/reasons-why-long-distance-relationships-are-better-than-y?utm_term=.swweqWWv0#.oxM6XRRJMhttps://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/meet-catch-and-keep/201505/can-long-distance-relationships-really-work

  2. Alexandra Kaminsky

    This post is really interesting. Relating physics to long distance relationships is something I’ve never thought of doing before. Newton’s law describes how two masses become less attracted as distance increases, so maybe physics describes why long distance relationships don’t work. Or, perhaps its just correlation and not causation. Though, it could just be because of other variables affecting the relationship. It would actually be really interesting to somehow perform an experiment relating relationships and Newton’s law.

Leave a Reply