Why and How do the 4 fundamental forces of nature work

Why and How do the 4 fundamental forces of nature work

How does a force between particles work? What causes an attraction or repulsion? Why does electromagnetism and gravity have infinite range, but the strong and weak force have a small range? Quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and Quantum electrodynamics (QED) are discussed.

All forces, except maybe gravity, are mediated by force carrying particles called gauge bosons. They operate by same mechanism: the exchange of virtual bosons. Photons carry the electromagnetic interaction, gluons carry the strong force, and the W and Z bosons for the weak force. The graviton would be the boson for gravity. Real versions of these gauge bosons have been observed, except the graviton.

What is a virtual particle? These exist due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The uncertainty principle states that the change in energy times the time of a particle’s existence must be equal to Planck’s constant over 4*pi. This means virtual particles can exist as long as its for a really short time.

How does an exchange of these virtual particles result in a force?

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