The basic action of force or interaction appears between quarks and leptons, and the force is mediated by another group of elementary particles -- the force mediators. Three forces appear in microcosmos

- the strong force acts between quarks
- the electromagnetic force acts between charged particles
- the weak force acts between both quarks and leptons.

Further, there is gravity that, despite very noticable in real life, actually doesn't produce any measurable effect in microcomos.

In nature there are four fundamental forces or interactions. All interactions take place through an exchange of a mediator particle. There is a hypothesis about a yet undiscovered mechanism in the Universe, The Higgs mechanism, which explains why W and Z have masses. Click on any of the forces for more information!

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