It is known that in order for any material object to change its motion, a force vector must be applied to it from the outside. In everyday life, each of us is faced with a huge number of different forces: for example, due to the forces of friction and gravity, we can move on the surface of the planet, etc. As was shown, despite the apparent diversity, all these forces are based on interatomic phenomena.
Types of interaction
Raise your hands and clap your hands. What happens with this? Obviously: the sound of popping. But this is only partially true, since such an explanation does not take into account the atomic structure of matter and the processes occurring in the microworld. Indeed, one can describe the power of the blow and see the consequence in the form of redness of the palms, but these are obvious manifestations of the macrocosm familiar to us. In fact, direct contact of the surfaces of the palms did not occur. Since particles of the same name are repelled, the electron shells located around the nuclei of the atoms simply repelled from each other. This is one example of an interaction based on electromagnetic forces.
But the gravitational interaction recorded between objects with large masses (planets, etc.) forms gravity. Currently, it is believed that the transfer of energy is carried out by gravitons.
Perhaps one of the most interesting is the strong interaction. The name itself indicates the colossal energies involved in the processes. Sometimes the term “quantum chromodynamics” can be found - this is the second name for the theory, within the framework of which strong interaction is considered.
New power
According to a simplified model of an atom, a massive nucleus is located at its center, around which electrons revolve in their orbits. Usually, a school physics course explains everything exactly this way using a planetary model. The nucleus includes neutrons and protons, the mass of each such particle is thousands of times greater than the "weight" of the electron. Given the known values ​​of charges and mass, an attempt was made to explain the existence of atomic nuclei (neutron - no charge, proton - positive) using electromagnetic and gravitational forces, but this turned out to be impossible. It was obvious that there was still some power. Subsequently, strong interaction was discovered as one of its manifestations.
Perhaps it’s worth pointing out what is meant by the term “nucleon”. Since the nucleus of an atom consists of two types of particles, the bonds between which have a strong interaction, it was decided to call both protons and neutrons the same - nucleons. The apparent at first glance, the difference between neutrons and protons - in the electric charge, ceased to be indicated, giving way to the definition of "different nucleon states."
As in the description of the electric charge they are divided into strong and weak, the same happens with respect to the types of interactions. The effect of such charges is manifested not only in the macro- and in the microworld, between the particles themselves. For example, strong interaction, which means that a strong charge is inherent in nucleons. But for an electron, by analogy, a weak charge and a weak interaction are characteristic . It appears between all particles, although not as obvious as other types of interactions.
Four basics
At the moment, all the known manifestations of the material world can be explained using four types of interaction - electromagnetic, weak, strong and gravitational. Some of them have been studied quite well, while others are only proved by practical experiments and observations. It is possible that soon something completely new will be discovered, so it’s too early to “put an end” in the search for interactions.