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Which four fundamental forces govern interactions between subatomic particles?
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subatomic particle
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle accelerator. At the LHC, located underground in Switzerland, physicists study subatomic particles.
The interactions between subatomic particles are governed by four fundamental forces:123
- Strong force: The most powerful force, it binds quarks together to form protons, neutrons, and other subatomic particles, and it holds protons and neutrons together within the atomic nucleus.12
- Electromagnetic force: This force acts between electrically charged particles. It is responsible for binding electrons to atomic nuclei and governs the chemical behavior of matter.124
- Weak force: This force acts on both quarks and leptons. It is responsible for processes such as beta decay and the nuclear reactions that power stars.125
- Gravity: While it is the dominant force on a macroscopic scale, it is many orders of magnitude weaker than the other forces at the subatomic level and is typically ignored when analyzing nuclear interactions.123
These forces are collectively referred to as the fundamental interactions of matter.1