What is the difference between the nuclear forces and electromagnetic force?
1 Answer
The nuclear forces are very short range whereas the electromagnetic force has a long range.
Explanation:
The electromagnetic force is a long range force which acts of charged particles. Like charges repel and unlike charges attract.
The colour force binds quarks together. It binds three quarks to make a baryon such as a proton or neutron. It binds two quarks to make a meson. The strong nuclear force is actually a residual effect of the colour force where quarks in a proton or neutron get bound to quarks in adjacent protons and neutrons. This effectively binds protons and neutrons to make a nucleus.
The weak nuclear force is responsible for radioactive beta decay. It can convert a proton into a neutron, a positron and an electron neutrino. It can also convert a neutron into a proton, an electron and an electron antineutrino.
The strong nuclear force is very short range and can only bind adjacent protons and neutrons. The electromagnetic force is long range. Thus every proton in a nucleus repels every other proton. This is which heavy elements are unstable.
