Physics Week 4 - May the Forces be with you

e=mc2 has affected me first and foremost by the fact that I am living on this Earth.  A tiny bit of material became the universe as the result of the Big Bang in what was the first conversion of matter and energy.  And the sun's conversion of matter to mass helps ensure I will continue to survive on this planet.

The four fundamental forces are used to explain how objects interact.  Gravity is the weakest force and works on the macro level by keeping the moon orbiting around the earth, the earth around the sun and the solar system around the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

The remaining three forces work primarily at the micro subatomic level.  The next in the tier of strength is the weak nuclear force and it responsible for radioactive decay.  The math to show this is complex but it basically is responsible for one of the neutrons in an element flipping and turning into a proton.  This is the most difficult force for me to imagine.

Getting stronger, is the electromagnetic force.  This is both an attractive and repellent force because when like charged particles are in proximity they repel each other and opposite charged particles attract each other.  We have all seen examples of this with magnets that repel each other but attract strongly to the refrigerator.

Finally, the strong nuclear force is responsible for binding the protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.  This is a relative force for chemistry reactions.  Honestly, I don't fully understand the power of these forces but the three strongest forces are incredibly demonstrated by the animated video link below on how the Large Haldon Collider works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLrEghnKncA

One of the things that eluded Einstein was a theory that connected all four of the fundamental forces.  Physicists today still cannot connect all four forces.