strong force: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	nuclear force • strong nuclear force • strong interaction

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Figure 9: Proton force. The interaction energy of two protons is shown as a function of the distance between them. At small separations, the energy is positive and the force is repulsive. At intermediate distances, the nuclear interaction is negative and the force is attractive. At distances larger than shown on the graph, the nuclear force becomes negligible and the repulsive electric force between the two charges is all that is left. The interaction depicted is for protons with antiparallel spins.

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Topics

exchange force spin-orbit force nuclear binding energy hadron resonance matter electricity electromagnetism gravity magnetism weak interaction field radiation chemical bonding chemical element subatomic particle

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Key People

Frank Wilczek

Frank Wilczek

American physicist

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David Gross

American physicist

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H. David Politzer

American physicist

Italian-born physicist Dr. Enrico Fermi draws a diagram at a blackboard with mathematical equations. circa 1950.

Physics and Natural Law