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The Four Fundamental Forces

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Brian An

on 13 May 2014

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Transcript of The Four Fundamental Forces

What Are The Four Fundamental Forces?
The 4 Fundamental Forces are the 4 basic forces that hold this universe together.

Every other force can be broken down and categorized into one of the four forces and they are generally used to explain little things like the basis of the Universe and the Theory of Everything.
Not the Academy Award winning movie (in which George Clooney would rather die alone in space than spend time with a woman his own age), but the weakest of the four forces.

To be fair, just because it's the weakest force doesn't make it useless. It's the only force that reaches over an infinite distance and also the only one that affects
objects of mass. While it may be basically useless at a sub-atomic level, it plays a huge influence in the world we can see. It affects the shape and movement of astronomical bodies like the sun, planets, comets, and so much more.
Weak Nuclear
The second weakest force, and much weaker than the Strong Nuclear force, which is the reason for it's unfortunate name.

It is responsible for radioactive decay and nuclear fusion, which basically does what it sounds like.

It can actually turn quarks (the things that make up protons, neutrons and electrons) into other types of quarks which is the cause of it's effects.
The second strongest force is Electromagnetism. Stronger than both gravity and the weak force, but weaker than the strong force. It also gives some pokemon their powers.

Although it's infinitely ranged like gravity and much stronger, it doesn’t affect large celestial bodies such as planets, stars, or galaxies because they have an equal amount of protons and electrons, giving off a net charge of ‘zero’.

It has a huge amount of uses, covering everything from the Electromagnetic spectrum to the genetic love child of Pikachu and Magneto.
How Do They Fit Together?
Strong Nuclear
I lied before, the Electromagnetic force and the Weak force were actually found to be part of the same force, due to the discovery of the Higgs boson.

Early when the universe was created, when the high temperature and amount of available energy was abundant, it was shown that the Electromagnetic force and Weak force was symmetrical, and had identical properties.

The discovery of the Higgs Boson proves that the Electromagnetic force and Weak force are actually part of the same ‘unified force’.
I guess that means that there are only 3 Fundamental Forces

For now.
Like I said before, the electromagnetic force and weak force were actually found to be different parts of the same force, the electroweak force. In the Standard Model (aptly AKA, the Theory of Everything) they have included the strong force into the equation as well. only gravity currently doesn't fit into this theory but hopefully the discovery of the alleged 'graviton' will help.

Many physicists believe in an underlying, unified force that these four “sub-forces” are a part of. Much like the way that electricity, magnetism and the weak force was discovered to form the Electroweak interaction, scientists currently think that the “the particles do not interact directly, but rather manifest virtual particles that mediate the actual interactions”. All of the forces, apart from gravity, work in the ‘Standard Model’.
The Fifth Force ?
Many surprise
Very deception
Scientist are saying that it's very possible that there may be a fifth force out there, whether we are already aware of its existence and simply need to classify it as one, or if we are yet to discover this mysterious force, is still unknown.

On the other hand, some scientists disagree, saying that due to the ambiguity and general openness of the definition of a 'fundamental force', many forces could be a contender for this position.

If scientists have to agree on one thing, it would be the fact that they can't agree on anything. It honestly is a wonder that scientists ever get anything done.
The strongest of all the forces, but it has an extremely short range. It's responsible for holding together the nucleus and the quarks inside of sub atomic particles.

It holds the nucleus together, by keeping the protons from repelling against each other and at a smaller level, keeps the quarks together as well.

It has to be extremely strong to combat the repulsion of the protons in the nucleus but at long range it's absolutely useless. And long range constitutes about 1 femtometer (which is a quadrillionth of a meter.)
What Does It Do?
Gravity is mostly known as the force that makes all physical bodies attracted to each other. While that may be not a valid excuse for sleeping around, it does have a few other properties that you could potentially blame.

Like the fact that it gives weight to all objects. On the moon you're basically 1/6 of your weight due to the weaker gravity, so you could make a case that the extra 5 kilos isn't
your fault.

It also pulls smaller objects towards other objects with bigger mass but the further you get the weaker the attraction becomes, which really does explain why some long distance relationships don't work out.
How Does It Do What It Does?
All four of the fundamental forces have an
exchange particle
, a sub atomic particle that gives the force its properties.

While the other forces have known exchange particles, gravity's is still undiscovered. The alleged 'Graviton'
sounds really cool but like most cool things, it doesn't currently exist. Scientists know that it's out there somewhere but they haven't actually discovered it yet.

Kind of like phasers.
What Does It Do?
Nuclear Fusion is a by product of Beta Decay, which is what causes the stars to burn and may be a viable energy source in the future.

Beta Decay is when large unstable atoms break down into smaller, more stable atoms.
Basically, the neutron is made of 2 types of quarks, 1 up quark and 2 down quarks. The up quarks have a charge of +2/3 while down quarks have a charge of -1/3.
Basically, the charges of the quarks looks like this:
+2/3 -1/3 -1/3=0
What Does It Do?
Like the name implies, it affects all electrical and magnetic properties, and since most things in this universe has a charge (positive, negative or neutral) it affects a lot of things.

It's exchange particle is the photon, which transmits energy levels at around 80 Gev. The Electromagnetic force acts in waves or fields which can be visible with iron fillings and a magnet. It's actually pretty cool.

Such meme
Much unprofessional
Explaining the Lies
When the Universe was first created, and temperatures were much hotter, with the equilibrium thermal energy at around 100 Gev, it is shown that the Electromagnetic and Weak force were identical and did the same thing.

With the exchange particles of both forces operating at different GeV levels, when things started to cool down (to below 80 GeV), they started to display different features and became two different aspects of the same force due to the energy difference of the W & Z bosons and Photons.
The Exchange Particle and Other Bits and Pieces
The Weak force actually has 2 exchange particles, the W & Z bosons. The Weak force is caused by the exchange or absorption of the W & Z. They operate at a energy level of around 90 GeV*.

While this may mean absolutely nothing to you right now and may actually confuse you, it will be explained in the future.

*GeV stands for Giga Electronvolt which is equal to a billion electronvolts. It's just a term of measurement for energy use by scientists and pretentious know-it-all showoffs.
The Split
The Quark Epoch was a period of time when the fundamental forces were in existence but the temperature levels and GeV were high enough so that the exchange particles were symmetrical in effect.

Scientists believe that at even higher GeV levels, the Strong Force would become symmetrical to the Electroweak force.

They have no
about what Gravity's doing though
Everyone knows that opposites attract and similar charges repel, so it really raises the question, how do protons stay together in the nucleus if they're all positive?

You would think that they'd explode apart but considering that I literally told you the answer in the previous slide, if you're not thinking "The Strong Force", we are going to have serious problems.

What Exactly Does The Strong Force Do?
It is a pretty good movie though
(Amongst Other Things)
I lied
How dare I
What Does This Have To Do With Anything?
Right now, you're probably asking the same question every single student asks in math class. "When is this
going to be useful in real life?"

I'm here to tell you that it's not. In terms of actual real life knowledge, this is more useless than that bag of frozen doves you have in your freezer for some reason.

Unless you plan on being a astrophysicist or a teacher or something, this is basically useless in our normal, everyday lives. But still, it's fun and interesting, and that's all you really need in life.

Excluding food and shelter and all that other stuff.
A summary of this completely serious and minimally informative presentation goes as follows:

1. The Four Fundamental Forces are immensely terrifying in ways that we can't fully comprehend

2. Gravity is the weakest force and doesn't really fit in with the other forces. A lot like me in 3rd grade.

3. The weak force causes nuclear fusion (which is what makes stars burn) and beta decay (when unstable atoms break down)

4. Electromagnetism does what is sounds like and has very cool properties that freak me out late at night.

5. The weak and electromagnetic forces are actually just one force that display different properties.

In the end, the quark's charges end up canceling each other out, giving the neutron a charge of 0.

If there are too many neutrons in an atom, the Weak Force will turn a down quark into a up quark, turning the neutron positive, no longer making it a neutron but a proton instead.
During this process, a –W boson is given off, which almost immediately decays into an electron and an anti-neutrino.
Essentially, the Beta Decay turns neutrons into a proton, an electron and an anti-neutrino.

I made this unnecessarily complicated. I'm sorry.
The Grand Unification Theory is like the Kevin Bacon of physics. No matter where you go, it will always appear in some shape or form.

As the Electroweak force shows, when the available energy was above 100 Gev, Electromagnetic and Weak force were identical.
At even higher temperatures, it is thought that the Strong force would be unified as well. Beyond that physicists are hoping to include Gravity into the equation as well, helping finish the Theory of Everything.

At around 1016 GeV, the Strong and Electroweak forces are thought to be symmetrical, although nothing can be proved.
The Exchange Particle and Really Small Things
The exchange particle is called a gluon, but the range is around the diameter of a proton/neutron, meaning it must be that close to affect the protons/neutrons that it holds together in the nucleus.
Fortunately, that's more than enough distance to hold together the quarks inside of the atom. Quarks are so small. It's ridiculous.

Sorry mum
I told you all those inane facts would appear later
Once again, not this one
Although you should really see it if you haven't already
I'm still not talking about the movie
Although I should be
Electrons are held in place by the electromagnetic force around the nucleus to form atoms, and as everyone knows, atoms are the lego bricks of the universe.

Up until the 19th century, scientists (and the general public) believed that magnetism and electricity were two separate forces. There was evidence that this wasn't the case but it wasn't until Maxwell extended the research done previously and formulated an equation in 1864 that proved that light was simply a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum
Fun Facts with Brian #74: Electromagnetism
It's a moon.
I honestly have no idea how you found this. Good job though.

Follow my tumblr at:

11. Don't crash your rocket
5 1/2. I am a liar and should not be trusted.

6. The strong force has a very unimaginative name and a short range. It basically holds atoms together.

7. All these forces are thought to be parts of one all-encompassing force. It's probably the Force, used by the jedi and sith lords.

8. If you really want to learn more you can talk to me or one of the teachers (Hint: choose the teachers. They'll be
more helpful)

9. Listen to adults, they usually know what they're talking about

10. Adults are usually senile and what no clue what they're on about. Ignore them at all costs.

Look at my shameless self promotion
Full transcript