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Physics LibreTexts

6: The Four Fundamental Forces

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The fundamental forces are normally divided in four groups, of the four so-called “fundamental” forces.

  • 6.1: Prelude to the Fundamental Forces
    The fundamental forces are normally divided in four groups, of the four so-called “fundamental” forces.
  • 6.2: Gravity
    The theory of gravity can be looked at in three ways: (1) The old fashioned Newtonian gravity,  (2) Einstein’s theory of gravity and (3)quantum theory. Latter is still under development.
  • 6.3: Electromagnetism
  • 6.4: Weak Nuclear Force
    The weak nuclear force is manifests itself through nuclear β decay.
  • 6.5: Strong Nuclear Force
    The strong force is what keeps nuclei together. It is described by a theory called quantum chromodynamics (QCD), which described the forces between fermions called quarks that make up the hadrons. These forces are mediated by spin-1 bosons called gluons.

Thumbnail: The Feynman diagram for the weak decay of a neutron.


This page titled 6: The Four Fundamental Forces is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Niels Walet via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.

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