Four Forces

It bothers me that in popular science discourse, gravity is so frequently emphasized while other forces are overlooked. Nobody even discusses the strong and weak forces anymore! OK. Maybe they do sometimes and I’m just exaggerating. Furthermore, gravity is the weakest force! However, it does affect things on an infinite scale. Behold, a list of the four physical forces:

• Strong interaction — This is the strongest force—the force that holds the nuclei of atoms together, binding protons and electrons to nuclei
• Electromagnetism — Another force stronger than gravity—electromagnetism is the force that acts on charged particles. (e.g. light, radio waves, etc.)
• Weak interaction — A force weaker than electromagnetism, involved in subatomic interactions like radioactive decay or the decay of unstable particles (e.g. like muons or nuclear reactions in the the Sun)
• Gravity — The weakest force, but with range that inevitably affects large-scale things, like objects, planets, asteroids, and so on.