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Gravity affects atoms and molecules just like it affects planets. Anything with mass will put a "dent" in the fabric of spacetime and attract anything else with mass. It is a fundamental law that cannot be ignored. You know that gravity is one of the four fundamental forces in the universe, along with the electromagnetic force and the strong and weak nuclear forces. But this excellent question suggests something. There is, in fact, a catch to gravity as regards atoms and molecules, and let's look at it. Though gravity is a part of all quantum mechanical activities on the atomic and molecular scale, it is a relatively weak force compared to the electrostatic forces (electromagnetic forces, actually) that rule here. Electrostatic forces are much more powerful on this scale than gravity, and the effects of gravity are barely noticeable when we look at atomic and molecular activity. That's why charge, charge distribution and charge balance are considerations throughout all of chemistry, and suggestions regarding gravitational effects are simply absent from the texts. Mass is critical in chemistry, of course, but gravimetric effects stemming from mass are minuscule. It's not that gravity took the day off. It did not, and the quantum physicist knows this well. But the chemist can simply ignore gravitational effects and float along by assessing electrostatic interaction between atoms and molecules. Chemistry is a large enough challenge as it is, and the chemist can operate quite satisfactorily looking at only electromagnetic forces.

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