Something fun that I learned about the four forces.
1. Gravity
2. The strong nuclear force
3. The weak nuclear force
4. Electromagnetism
1. I don't have the time to explain it briefly...the particle that mediates gravity is the Graviton. It has yet to be detected, but string theory explains why and why it is weak (compared to the other three forces.) For more information I suggest you research it.
2. Mediated by "virtual" particles known as Gluans. It is responsible for keeping quarks (which are constituents of protons and neutrons) held together, and for keeping protons and neutrons bound in a nucleus. A virtual particle is a photon that spontaneuously creates a normal and anti version of that particle, which quickly annihilate to turn back into a photon (look at the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle for more information.) A curious property of the strong force is that the farther quarks get away from each other, the stronger the force is felt. Eventually you will reach the distance at which the Strong Force is ineffective, but that will take so much energy that you will have created another quark. As such, quarks cannot be isolated (protons have three quarks, and you will create one addistional quark, so you will create two mesons which have two quarks total.)
3. The weak force is mediated by the W (plus and minus, which are antiparticles of each other) and the Z particle (which is neutral and its own antiparticle.) They are responsible for radioactive decay of particles. You can determine the particle that mediated the interaction via the conservation of mass, energy, and charge laws.
4. Electromagnetism is mediated by virtual photons. Although I cannot explain it in one minute (the remaining time I have before I must leave), I suggest that you look it up yourself. It is very strong (enough to defy Earth's gravity), but only workseffectively at short distances (think of a magnet and a paperclip.)
In depth: But wait: you must be thinking something...such as photons are paticles of light (if you didn't know that...well...now you do.) To be completely honest, both of those are correct. Ever hear that light is an electromagnetic wave? Electricity is also mediated by photons, but that is complicated to explain. Really, I can't explain this. I haven't done much research on electricity because it isn't interesting to me. However, if I do feel the need to research this, I'll be sure to post it here.
I'll answer your questions/ respond to your unfounded criticism/ enjoy your support over the weekend :)
