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ClearIAS » Science and Technology Notes » The Four Fundamental Forces of Nature

The Four Fundamental Forces of Nature

Last updated on February 5, 2020 by Alex Andrews George

The four fundamental forcesThe Four Fundamental Forces of Nature are Gravitational force, Weak Nuclear force, Electromagnetic force and Strong Nuclear force.

The weak and strong forces are effective only over a very short range and dominate only at the level of subatomic particles.

Gravity and Electromagnetic force have infinite range. Let’s see each of them in detail.

The Four Fundamental Forces and their strengths

  1. Gravitational Force – Weakest force; but has infinite range. (Not part of the standard model)
  2. Weak Nuclear Force – Next weakest; but short range.
  3. Electromagnetic Force – Stronger, with infinite range.
  4. Strong Nuclear Force – Strongest; but short range.

Gravitational Force

The gravitational force is weak but very long-ranged. Furthermore, it is always attractive. It acts between any two pieces of matter in the Universe since mass is its source.

Weak Nuclear Force

The weak force is responsible for radioactive decay and neutrino interactions. It has a very short range and. As its name indicates, it is very weak. The weak force causes Beta-decay ie. the conversion of a neutron into a proton, an electron and an antineutrino.

Electromagnetic Force

The electromagnetic force causes electric and magnetic effects such as the repulsion between like electrical charges or the interaction of bar magnets. It is long-ranged but much weaker than the strong force. It can be attractive or repulsive and acts only between pieces of matter carrying an electrical charge. Electricity, magnetism, and light are all produced by this force.

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Strong Nuclear Force

The strong interaction is very strong but very short-ranged. It is responsible for holding the nuclei of atoms together. It is basically attractive but can be effectively repulsive in some circumstances. The strong force is ‘carried’ by particles called gluons; that is, when two particles interact through the strong force, they do so by exchanging gluons. Thus, the quarks inside of the protons and neutrons are bound together by the exchange of the strong nuclear force.

Note:  While they are close together the quarks experience little force, but as they separate the force between them grows rapidly, pulling them back together. To separate two quarks completely would require far more energy than any possible particle accelerator could provide.

Four Fundamental Forces

Electroweak Theory and Grand Unification Theories (GUT)

There is speculation, that In the very early Universe when temperatures were very high (the Planck Scale) all four forces were unified into a single force. Then, as the temperature dropped, gravitation separated first and then the other 3 forces separated. Even then, the weak, electromagnetic, and strong forces were unified into a single force. When the temperature dropped these forces got separated from each other, with the strong force separating first and then at a still lower temperature the electromagnetic and weak forces separating to leave us with the 4 distinct forces that we see in our present Universe. The process of the forces separating from each other is called spontaneous symmetry breaking.

  • The weak and electromagnetic interactions have been unified under the Standard Electroweak Theory, or sometimes just the Standard Model. (Glashow, Weinberg, and Salaam were awarded the Nobel Prize for this in 1979). [Unification of Weak forces except for gravity]
  • Grand unification theories attempt to treat both strong and electroweak interactions under the same mathematical structure. [Unification of Weak forces and strong forces] PS: Attempts to include gravitation in this picture have not yet been successful.
  •  Theories that add gravity to the mix and try to unify all four fundamental forces into a single force are called Superunified Theories.
  • PS: Grand Unified and Superunified Theories remain theoretical speculations that are as yet unproven, but there is strong experimental evidence for the unification of the electromagnetic and weak interactions in the Standard Electroweak Theory. Furthermore, although GUTs are not proven experimentally, there is strong circumstantial evidence to suggest that theory at least like a Grand Unified Theory is required to make sense of the Universe.

References

  1. CSEP
  2. NASA

UPSC Prelims Question 2013

Qn: The known forces of nature can be divided into four classes, viz, gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear force and strong nuclear force. With reference to them, which one of the following statement is not correct?

  1. Gravity is the strongest of the four
  2. Electromagnetism act only on particles with an electric charge
  3. The weak nuclear force causes radioactivity
  4. Strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons inside the nucleus of an atom.

Ans: 1

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Alex Andrews George is a mentor, author, and entrepreneur. Alex is the founder of ClearIAS and one of the expert Civil Service Exam Trainers in India.

He is the author of many best-seller books like 'Important Judgments that transformed India' and 'Important Acts that transformed India'.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sanju says

    August 8, 2018 at 8:59 pm

    This is not enough for understanding

    Reply
  2. Deanna Graham says

    January 16, 2019 at 3:55 pm

    Nice synopsis. Thank you.

    Reply
  3. john ryan says

    May 18, 2019 at 5:41 pm

    He contradicts himself.
    “Gravity is the weakest force” , he says
    Further down h states “gravity is the strongest force “

    Reply
    • prasad says

      July 10, 2019 at 9:48 pm

      it is weakest force but long range force responsible for stability between sun and earth

  4. Mytht1c says

    May 20, 2019 at 2:01 pm

    that was in a question, he asks which is false.

    Reply
  5. Rodolfo Carrara says

    August 15, 2019 at 7:21 pm

    In the four types of forces I did not find hydrodynamic forces, from waterfalls for example, so I think that this one is missing in the four types of natural forces. The question is: is this type of force derived or associated with one of the four types described in this classification?

    Reply
  6. Garylee says

    August 23, 2019 at 3:54 am

    Re read.the question and notice the statement “not correct”.

    Reply
  7. ayush says

    August 26, 2019 at 4:25 pm

    movement of water is under gravitational force, so hydrodynamic force will come under application of gravity only.

    Reply
  8. Geno says

    September 12, 2019 at 4:36 am

    Hydrodynamic force is associated with gravity. No gravity, no waterfalls 😎

    Reply
  9. Milaan says

    October 7, 2019 at 10:17 am

    The reason they call gravity a strong force because depending on circumstances gravity can overcome every forces ( black hole is a good example). The range of gravity is infinite so it results in simultaneous iteration among each bounded particles. On the other hand strong nuclear forces can interact with their neighbors only resulting into weaker overall effect.

    Then you may say that electromagnetic forces should also dominate since it has infinite range. But, unlike gravity which is attractive only. EM forces are both attractive and repulsive. Also majority of things in universe is electrically neutral (or at least maintain local electrical neutrality). Moreover, when atoms are bounded together very strongly, they squeeze protons and electrons into neutrons diminishing the EM forces (that what happens in neutron stars).

    Reply
  10. Linda says

    November 21, 2019 at 7:39 am

    Which force explains me raising my hand? (The force of muscle)

    Reply
  11. Vincent J Petti says

    November 23, 2019 at 10:40 pm

    What force is responible the change in energy when carbon and oxygen form CO2

    Reply
  12. Kyle says

    November 24, 2019 at 4:05 am

    Hydrodynamic forces are a byproduct of gravity, albeit a substantial force (:

    Reply
  13. Ron says

    November 27, 2019 at 7:49 pm

    Your hand is raised by electromagnetism. Muscles use electrical forces to fire.
    The same forces are involved in almost all chemical reactions (such as the change in energy as carbon and oxygen form CO2).

    Reply
  14. Linda says

    November 27, 2019 at 8:44 pm

    Thank you, Ron.

    Reply
  15. mohsin liaqat says

    January 8, 2020 at 1:44 pm

    please give me ans ……can we describe all forces in a foundamental forces

    Reply
  16. laura says

    May 21, 2020 at 9:14 pm

    This was very helpful but I can’t use this as a source since I can’t find the author or the date this was published.

    Reply
  17. Anuj says

    August 28, 2020 at 10:13 pm

    You article on Fundamental Forces In Nature written very nicely

    Reply

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