Summarizing the Four Basic Forces

Summary

• The four basic forces and their carrier particles are summarized in the this table.
• Feynman diagrams are graphs of time versus position and are highly useful pictorial representations of particle processes.
• The theory of electromagnetism on the particle scale is called quantum electrodynamics (QED).

Glossary

Feynman diagram

a graph of time versus position that describes the exchange of virtual particles between subatomic particles

gluons

exchange particles, analogous to the exchange of photons that gives rise to the electromagnetic force between two charged particles

quantum electrodynamics

the theory of electromagnetism on the particle scale