This information has been extracted from the Resource Lesson entitled "What is Matter" which describes the Standard Model of Matter.

 

Currently we state that there are four fundamental forces in nature:

• the strong nuclear force - carried by the gluons linking the quarks and found in the nucleus
• the weak nuclear force - carried by the W⁺, W^-, and Z⁰ bosons that are responsible for natural radioactive decay allowing one type of quark to transmute into another
• the electromagntic force - carried by the chargeless, massless photons that are the boson for electrostatic attraction and repulsion
• the gravitational force - carried by gravitons. Gravity Waves were first observed during the summer of 2016 when a "chirp" was documented by LIGO detectors when the gravity waves between two black holes collided and merged into ONE.

These forces have specific distances, or ranges, over which they are felt.

• The strong force acts solely within the nucleus. So its range is only a few femtometers. (10^-15 meters)
• The weak force acts within the atom. So its range is on the order of angstroms (10^-10 meters).
• The electromagnetic force is infinite is range and is predominately responsible for most of the phenomena we observe in our everyday life. Its force constant is very large (9 x 10⁹ N m²/C²).
• The gravitational force is also infinite in range, but has an extremely small force constant (6.67 x 10^-11 Nm²/kg²) resulting in this force only being applicable when involving enormously large masses.

The force of universal gravitation has yet to be mathematically "attached" to the Standard Model. When it does, the model will mature into the "TOE" or the Theory of Everything - a quest Einstein never achieved but spent his last years pursuing. The Theory of Everything will unite the behavior of all four fundamental forces dealing wimatter and energy.

Welcome to the 21st century!

 

The following five questions are related to the same situation.