On Earth, what do you think is the most powerful force? (Dealing with Nature)

Of the four choices listed, I choose Gravity.
Even though of the four fundamental forces:

Gravitational Force
Electromagnetic Force
Weak Nuclear Force
Strong Nuclear Force

The Gravitational Force is weakest.

However, regarding the above provided list, there would be no planet, wind, lightning, or life without Gravity. Gravity condensed dust and gasses into a planet, atmosphere and water stick around the planet due to gravity and the Planet's core producing the Magnetosphere.
I agree with antiteaparty that Tectonic Action on the planet is very powerful. It produces entire mountain ranges and is the face of our planet, and has powerful effects on climate. *Lightning can't change the face of the planet. It makes Fulgerite, and may have had a role stimulating the production of rna and life producing enzymes...
*Wind and Water are certainly powerful, but owes their power to being held to the planet by Gravity, and not blown away by the Sun due to the Planet's Magnetosphere produced by the core, which was made by Gravity.
Without Gravity, the planet would not have formed around our Sun that provides the earth with life sustaining energy.

No Gravity = nada.

From a physics point of view, forces and power are different phenomenon, so a force like gravity can have a large magnitude, but doesn't in itself have any power. So instead of physics, I will go with "emotional power". I believe the existence of life to me is the most emotionally powerful and amazing forces on the planet.

Pictures like this make me wonder if this is where the terms,
"Sky Father" and "Mother Earth" originated.
Brown-chicken-Brown-cow, Brown-Chicken-Brown-Cow.

Hey, look at the moon, guys! Very powerful...

Actually none of above.. Tectonic plates crashing together and ripping apart the very earth we stand on...

Anything that can rip entire continents apart or push them together is by far the most powerful force on this planet...

That would be magma and lava from the Earths Core, but I don't believe that to be a force and even if it was it takes billions of years to move the continents around.

I think the Japanese would disagree...

Well I don't care what the Japanese think or anyone else, I'm going by what I know and learned in Earth Science, your going with Earthquakes as shifting tectonics when they are not exactly the same thing, Earthquakes are capable of showing up in any area, Tectonic movement is mainly around the trenches.

What do you think causes earthquakes? The shifting of tectonic plates...When 1 plate is moving against another plate that causes a build up of pressure and when that plate that is moving breaks from that pressure the earth gives way and causes it to unleash enough power to both destroy the ground, objects on the ground but it also can cause the ocean to produce tsunami's of 30 feet or more... anything that can move that much water in the vast ocean and powerful enough to completely wipe out everything it hits for 1000's of miles is without doubt the greatest force on this planet...

Your right about that, but you can't put Earthquakes and Tectonic shifts in the same category when Earthquakes can happen anywhere, not just around the trenches.

Earth quakes just don't happen everywhere without the laws of physics... you need pressure from 2 different plates... those plates don't need to be continental size... all they need is to have pressure on either side of a fault line and that whole area is under the threat of an earthquake...

Actually, Earthquakes can happen anywhere, but usually close to the Plate boundaries!

Tell me what you notice about these 2 maps...

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glo...


http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ea...

Tremendous force, no doubt, but power is measured in energy per unit time, so I'm not sure it is very powerful. If tectonics dissipated significant energy over time, it would need to be included in climate models, and I have yet to hear anyone claim plate tectonics is a significant factor in climate. Even in heavily tectonic areas, there is negligible impact on the local climate.

Big earthquakes throw off vast amounts of energy. According to Beth Buczynski of the CrispGreen Web site, researchers have calculated that the January 2010 magnitude 7.0 earthquake that killed upwards of 220,000 people in Haiti released as much energy as 31 atomic bombs like the one the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. And the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck northeast Japan in March 2011 unleashed the equivalent of more than 15,000 Hiroshima bombs.

True, but even the small (relative to total solar flux) amount of radiative forcing from CO2 in the atmosphere is equivalent to 1 million Hiroshima bombs per day. On a planetary scale, the energy released in tectonic events is insignificant compared to solar irradiance and the weather systems it generates.

though i think water is even more powerful

water isnt really a force, with out gravity or wind and such water would just stay still

i see

Without wind, there would be no waves..LOL

lol Actually that's Gravity, water gets it's motion from the Moon's Gravity, not the wind!

Have you ever been at sea in a storm? LMAO,, I have crossed the atlantic three time by boat,, some days no wind, sea like a mirror,, storm comes in and winds of 50 60 miles an hour whip up 40 foot waves.. dont tell me its gravity...I fish the flats here in florida in the gulf,, Wind comes up and the waters get choppy with whitecaps.. that is not gravity causing it...LMAO

I'm not arguing with you, it's gravity you should have learned about it in school at some time, but I don't really care to argue over the topic so you believe what you want!

Gravity is responsible for the tides. Maybe that is what you were thinking. The actual energy comes from the movement of the moon and sun relative to the Earth. Tidal forces actually slow the motion of the moon and Earth over time.

Water

Wind.. Hurricanes, tornados, cyclones, cause more damage than water...usually the wind is accompanied with a bit of water, but it is the force of the wind that does the damage.. Sunami's cause damage, but are rare..

The question was of power, not damage. Water focuses sunlight (or defuses it). It does work for gravity. It adds sting to the wind. Wind requires the sun to do anything at all. water gives birth to life.
Anyway, it's just my take on the question.

I would say water actually.

Water would be nothing without Gravity. That's how it gets it's motion, from the Gravity of the Moon! If I remember correctly.

All of the other three combined cannot stop the progress of life, small or large, weak or strong. "life goes on"

Rules.

Mother Earth

what could exist without it?

Slipped on some ice last winter and was immediately reminded of Gravity's emphatic power.

it's the very thing that holds this entire galaxy together.

Mother Nature Herself!

They dont call it G-Force for nothing.