  The scaling of physical forces to the extremely low ambient gravitational
acceleration regimes found on the surfaces of small asteroids is performed.
Resulting from this, it is found that van der Waals cohesive forces between
regolith grains on asteroid surfaces should be a dominant force and compete
with particle weights and be greater, in general, than electrostatic and solar
radiation pressure forces. Based on this scaling, we interpret previous
experiments performed on cohesive powders in the terrestrial environment as
being relevant for the understanding of processes on asteroid surfaces. The
implications of these terrestrial experiments for interpreting observations of
asteroid surfaces and macro-porosity are considered, and yield interpretations
that differ from previously assumed processes for these environments. Based on
this understanding, we propose a new model for the end state of small, rapidly
rotating asteroids which allows them to be comprised of relatively fine
regolith grains held together by van der Waals cohesive forces.
