Main Entry: strong force

Function: noun

Date: 1964

: a fundamental physical force that acts on hadrons and is responsible for the binding together of protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus and for processes of particle creation in high-energy collisions and that is the strongest known fundamental physical force but acts only over distances comparable to those between nucleons in an atomic nucleus —called also strong interaction, strong nuclear force — compare electromagnetism 2a, gravity 3a(2), weak force