THE FUNDAMENTAL FORCES

A fundamental force is one which does not arise from any other forces.

There are four fundamental forces:

The reason why the srtong and the weak force have been unknown until recently is because they have a finite range over which they act, with distances smaller than the diameter of the atom (~10-10m).

The table below shows the range of each of the forces and their relative strength:

Force Range (m) Rel. Strength/Strong
Strong 10-15 1
Electromagnetic ¥ ~10-3
Weak Force 10-17 ~10-5
Gravity ¥ ~10-38

Each of these forces is carried by force carriers

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