The Fundamental Forces

The Fundamental forces

You probably been told why you stay on the ground or why magnets stick together. The forces are called gravity and electromagnetic force in that order. These forces can’t be simplified into more basic reactions. These forces are the 4 fundamental forces, gravity, weak force, electromagnetic force, and strong force. (In order of strength) There is also a hypothetical 5th force to explain observations that don’t fit current theories, but we won’t talk about that. Now I’ll talk about the fundamental forces.

First, let’s talk about gravity. Gravity the force that pulls you to the Earth. Gravity is the weakest fundamental force and by a lot, by 38 orders of magnitude from strong force, the strongest fundamental force. This is 10^42 times weaker! But, gravity has some advantages. Gravity becomes more powerful the more mass there is and has basically infinite range, so in a large scale, gravity is very strong. Although, the further an object is from the other object the weaker the gravitational pull. If the moon was twice the distance, there will be only 1/4 the pull. Inverse square law. The larger the area the stronger, the gravity, which isn’t true for some other forces btw. Gravities ’s particle is the graviton. Which is currently hypothetical, but it needs to exist for the current understanding of forces to be right.

Next, there is weak force. Weak force is 6 orders of magnitude weaker than strong force. That’s a million times weaker and only works on the smallest scale. Weak force is responsible for changing quarks, which is a very small scale which this force works at. When the quarks change, a proton can change into a neutron and the reverse can happen too. This will change the atom into a different element and give it a positive or negative charge. This force is responsible for beta-decay too, which I recommend you to search up. The weak force’s particle is the W and Z bosons. They are the particles that change the quarks.

The force stronger than weak force is electromagnetic force. Which is also the second strongest fundamental force.  Electromagnetic force is the fundamental force of electricity and magnetism. They are both connected btw. Electromagnetic force is the force of positive charges and negative charges. Which is how magnets repel and stick together. This force is responsible for keeping your lights on and your fridge magnets on the fridge, not to mention allowing the fridge to refrigerate stuff. Same charges repel, opposite charges attract. This force is important in atoms, pulling protons and electrons together. (Protons are positive, electrons are negative). While electromagnetic force has a large range. Over large distances, its intensity gets weaker as it spreads out. Also strength can be calculated with inverse square law. Another thing about electromagnetic force, the larger the scale, the more electromagnetic force evens out. The electromagnetic forces particle is the photon.  The photon mediates the electromagnetic force. Visible light is also part of the electromagnetic wave too! Electromagnetic also helps you see along with many other things. I recommend searching up an electromagnetic wavelengths and what items use those wavelengths. It’s very interesting.

Finally, we have the strongest force. Conveniently named,strong force. Strong force is strong obviously, a 100 times stronger electromagnetic force, 10^13 times stronger than weak force and 10^38 times stronger than gravity. But has a small range too. That range being the nucleus of an atom. Electromagnetic force may push the protons away, but strong force keeps them together using neutrons. Neutrons and protons are attracted despite the electromagnetic force. And on a smaller scale, strong force holds the oppositely charged quarks that make up the protons and neutrons. The strong force particles are gluons. They mediate the strong force.

All in all, the fundamental forces are very interesting and a very important part of our universe. There is likely much more we can learn about them. Perhaps another force to explain the phenomenon we can’t explain with the current forces? A discovery of gravitons? One day, we might answer these questions, and create much more questions?