What fundamental force acts as the cosmic glue holding stars, gas, and dust in galaxies?
Answer
Gravity
Gravity is fundamentally identified as the cosmic glue responsible for holding the immense, swirling structures known as galaxies together. This pervasive force dictates the motion of every star within its island universe, actively preventing the entire structure from dispersing into the void of intergalactic space. It functions as the mutual gravitational attraction between all mass components, providing the necessary centripetal force to constrain stars to their orbital paths, much like it keeps the Moon orbiting the Earth.

#Videos
What Force Binds A Galaxy Together? - Physics Frontier - YouTube
Related Questions
What fundamental force acts as the cosmic glue holding stars, gas, and dust in galaxies?If gravity suddenly vanished, what immediate trajectory would stars follow within a galaxy?What dictates the precise velocity tuning for a star located far from the galactic center?For a system to remain gravitationally bound, how must the total kinetic energy compare to gravitational potential energy?What unexpected observation regarding outer stars led to the dark matter conclusion?Approximately what mass fraction of a large galaxy's total mass is estimated to be dark matter?Through what primary mechanism is the presence of dark matter inferred by astronomers?In the tetherball analogy for a galaxy's orbit, what acts as the distributed gravitational field 'string'?What structures represent the largest known gravitationally bound structures in the universe mentioned?How did dark matter likely initiate the formation of galaxies in the early universe?