Fundamental Particles

Abstract

In a study of Newtonian mechanics a physicist is likely to get the impression that nature provides all sorts of forces to be inserted into Newton’s second law. The problems of classical mechanics tend to exemplify a great variety of mathematical expressions which describe forces between and among objects. However, a more detailed picture, on the atomic and nuclear scale, discloses that in reality only a small number of fundamental forces seem to exist. At present, the number is set at four. Further research may change this number, but the forces listed in Table 18-1 seem to account for the general features of known physical processes.