350 ON PHYSICAL DATA 



Let a particle at A attract 



C 

 another at B with a force 



A B- 



and repel it at the same time 



with a force . ^2 , where C, C are the absolute 



forces of attraction and repulsion when the dis- 

 tance A B is equal to unity. 



Then the effective force of A on B will be the 



difference of the attractive and repelling forces, 



viz. 



C C _ C«)C' 



AB^ "* AB^ ~ AB* 



This result shows that when the constant C is 

 greater than C then the attractive force is greater 

 than the repelling force and will always continue 

 to be so, and if C be greater than C the repelling 

 force will be greater than the attractive and will 

 always continue greater. Hence the force which 

 acts upon the particles A & B by their mutual 

 attractions and repulsions according to the above 

 law will not account for their extensibility. The 

 same kind of reasoning as the above will show 

 that when the attractive and repelling forces are 

 the same function of the distance the attractive 

 force if greater or less than the repelling force at 

 any one point, it will continue to be so. 



