What is the difference between the electromagnetic force and the nuclear force?
(Inbs, Chennai, India) A: The electromagnetic and nuclear forces are both fundamental forces. They differ in several ways, including their effective range, how distance changes their strength, their relative strength, their carriers (the entities that pass each force between two interacting particles), and the fundamental particles they affect. The forces are “fundamental” because of what they act on the fundamental building blocks of matter such as electrons and quarks. Fundamental forces at work: Electromagnetic and nuclear. [Public Service Company of NM, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] But first, what are the electromagnetic (EM) force and the nuclear force? • The EM force causes like-electrically-charged particles to repel each other and unlike-charged particles to attract. This force includes the magnetic effects of moving charges and underlies such everyday forces as friction and magnetism. The EM force even causes atoms to stick together and form molecules. Matt
