The universe is a huge mystery that humanity has been trying to decipher for millennia, but it seems that everything in it works perfectly. Each of the phenomena that we have been able to discover, from those of stratospheric dimensions to the most microscopic, seem to display the same kind of interactions. Thus, scientists have so far succeeded in deciphering the existence of 4 fundamental forces that govern nature. Absolutely everything we know is governed by them, however, experts continue to try to understand them and understand if each one acts separately, or on the contrary, they can be theoretically explained as the same superforce, a theory of everything.
What are the fundamental forces of the universe?
The Fundamental forces of the universe are the pillar of existence itself, they govern all the phenomena that we know. From the explosion of a supernova to the possibility that you, dear reader, are following these lines, are manifestations of these forces. Until now, 4 fundamental forces have been discovered and although some theorists predict the existence of a fifth, it has not been proven so far.
The 4 fundamental forces
The shape of our bodies, internal organs and even the shape of plants depends directly on gravity. This shapes everything that exists in the Universe, it is thanks to it that the planets are geoids and basically sculpts the entire cosmos like plasticine due to its incidence on bodies. We know this thanks to Albert Einstein, his Theory of General Relativity, and he introduced the concept of space-time.
And although it is in charge that our planet does not wander aimlessly and keeps revolving around the Sun, It is the weakest of the 4 fundamental forces. Just raise an arm and with that you have already challenged its incidence, although of course it doesn’t work that simple for everything.
Electromagnetism
This is the force that makes the particles attract or repel each other, depending on their charge. In this way, thanks to electromagnetism Negatively charged electrons stay around positively charged protons. This is how the atoms from which all matter is built are formed. And thanks to the fact that man learned to control electromagnetism, we can have electrical devices.
weak nuclear force
The weak force acts at subatomic scale levels, has its incidence on families of particles known as leptons (electrons, for example) and also on quarks (protons and neutrons). This force plays an extremely important role in the violent explosions that occur in stars like the Sun. Explosions that are the product of what physicists call nuclear fusion and that is given grace to the weak force.
strong nuclear force
This force lives up to its name, as it is the most powerful of all. Although it acts at subatomic levels its power is such that thanks to it the protons and neutrons of the atoms are held together. In other words, without it, atoms simply could not be formed, nor matter, therefore, we would not exist and there would be no life on the planet, nor celestial bodies in space.
A fifth force?
Despite the efforts of physicists to unify these four forces in the same theory, this has not been possible. Both electromagnetism, the weak and the strong nuclear force, are theoretically explained by particle physics and the Standard Model. However, gravity is shaped by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
Let’s say that mathematically these two theories are not compatible and the experts have faced the challenge of looking for new ways to try to unify them. So far it has not been successfully achieved, mainly because no one has yet been able to observe the gravitonwhich would be the particle corresponding to gravity.
But the big particle colliders like CERN and Fermilab have developed experiments in which they have noticed strange behavior of the particles. Which would be an indication that not everything is said yet in particle physics and the interactions between them, a fifth force could respond. Although for now it has not yet been proven and the development of theories still has a long way to go.
It might interest you