Re: The role of exchange particles in force

From: Bjoern Feuerbacher (feuerbac_at_thphys.uni-heidelberg.de)
Date: 10/12/04 

Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 12:08:51 +0200

Ken Seto wrote:
> Bjoern Feuerbacher <feuerbac@thphys.uni-heidelberg.de> wrote in message news:<ck8nie$m4s$2@news.urz.uni-heidelberg.de>...
>
>>G=EMC^2 Glazier wrote:
>>
>>>Hi Y Porat Seems to me the common feature of forces is just as mass
>>>determines how gravity affects a particle,and electric charge determines
>>>how electromagnetic "force" affects it,particles are endowed with
>>>certain amounts of "strong charge" and "weak charge" and that determines
>>>how they are affected by the strong and weak forces.
>>
>>Precisely right.
>>
>>Charges are in particle physics also called "coupling constants", since
>>they determine how strong the particles "couple" to a particular force.
>>
>>
>>
>>>Still it is tricky
>>>stuff. Like "Why are the strong and weak forces confined to operate on
>>>microscopic scales while gravity and the electromagnetic force have
>>>unlimited range
>>
>>Well, QFT explains that.
>>
>>
>>
>>> And why is there such an enormous spread in the
>>>intrinsic strength of these forces? Bert
>>
>>That is something which we still do not know.
>
>
> MM knows.:-)

If you can explain the different strength of the forces *quantitatively*
(i.e. not with mere qualitative handwavings), feel free to present your
calculations.

Bye,
Bjoern