Key Stage 5
Meaning
The fundamental interactions are the 4 ways in which subatomic particless may affect one another.
About Fundamental Interactions
- The fundamental interactions can cause subatomic particless to change direction or change from one subatomic particles into one or more other Subatomic subatomic particles.
- During the interactions certain properties of subatomic particless are conserved, including baryon number, lepton number, charge and strangeness (which is conserved in the strong interaction but not conserved in the weak interaction).
- The four fundamental interactions are:
- Strong Nuclear Interaction - Experienced only by hadrons and responsible for holding quarks together and holding protons and neutrons together in the atomic nucleus.
- Weak Nuclear Interaction - Experienced by hadrons and leptons and responsible for decay of subatomic particles.
- Electromagnetic Interaction - Experienced by particles with charge
- Gravitational Interaction - Experienced by all particles with mass.