Talk:Weak interaction

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Help with this template Comments: edit – history – watch – refresh Lacks references Snailwalker | talk 00:59, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 Stellar fusion 2 One or a half force 3 Why? 4 Request for history 5 nuclear force vs interaction 6 How many times weaker than strong nuclear force? 7 Attraction and/or Repulsion? 8 Role in neutron decay? 9 Move to Weak interaction 9.1 Voting

[edit] Stellar fusion

The diproton article claims this is the force responsible for stellar fusion (limiting the rate). Why? It'd be nice to mention that here. --Andrew 05:25, Mar 31, 2005 (UTC)

Weak interactions occuour in stellar fusion because elements with more than one proton require a neutron to stop the protons from repelling each other with their + charges. Neutrons mutually attract the protons with strong force, and if weak interactions didn't take place, elements would be unable to fuse in stars.

[edit] One or a half force

The statement that the weak force is one of the four fundamental forces cannot be true at the same time as the statement that there is an electroweak force which the weak force is an aspect of. Could someone please clarify this? --Etxrge 20:44, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

Quote from fundamental interaction:

Traditionally, physicists have counted four interactions: gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force. Their magnitude and behavior vary greatly, as can be seen in the table above. Yet, it is strongly believed that three of these interactions are manifestations of a single, more fundamental, interaction. Electromagnetism and the weak nuclear forces have been shown to be two aspects of a single electroweak force. Somewhat more speculatively, the electroweak force and the strong nuclear interaction have been combined using grand unified theories.

-- Rmrfstar 04:52, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Why?

This is because, under current conditions in the known universe, the weak force behaves as if it were a separate force to all others (strong, electromagnetic, gravity). However, under certain conditions, the weak force and the electromagnetic force behave in the same way. Because of this, physicists view the weak nuclear force as part of an 'electroweak' force; however it is useful when applied to ideas concerning the universe as it currently stands to consider the weak force as a separate force to the others.

[edit] Request for history

Can anyone provide a little history? Who first proposed the idea of this force and when? -- Mrnatural 02:51, 12 Jun, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] nuclear force vs interaction

Should not this article be titled, "Weak interaction" as Strong interaction is? -- Rmrfstar 7 July 2005 17:49 (UTC)

[edit] How many times weaker than strong nuclear force?

Fundamental interaction says weak nuclear force is 10²⁵ times weaker than strong nuclear force. Weak nuclear force says it is just is 10⁹ weaker. What is correct? Miraceti 13:34, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

In the Fundamental interaction page it's how many times stronger it is than gravity, on this page it's stating how much weaker it is than strong nuclear force.

[edit] Attraction and/or Repulsion?

Does the weak nuclear force generate an attractive or repulsive force between two particles? The other 3 forces generate attractions and/or repulions, so shouldn't the weak nuclear force do the same thing, especially if it is supposed to be similar to the EM force?

The answer, oddly enough, is no. The weak force the same as the others in a fundamental sense, in that force-carrying bosons are exchanged. The difference is that the weak force, unlike all the other forces, is mediated by very heavy particles. Thus whereas two electrons can exchange many, many photons and so produce what's effectively a continuous repulsive force, they exchange relatively few Z bosons because they're so heavy. (Really, the Z bosons do make a very small contribution to electron repulsion.) I'm not sure if that helps or not, but there's a try. If you have more questions, the best place to ask is Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science. -- SCZenz 03:34, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Role in neutron decay?

Proton decay states that free neutrons decay in approximately 10 minutes due to weak interaction. Can someone add some details about this? Confuted 17:14, 26 March 2006 (UTC)