weak force

weak force

noun

Definition of WEAK FORCE

: a fundamental physical force that governs interactions between hadrons and leptons (as in the emission and absorption of neutrinos) and is responsible for particle decay processes (as beta decay) in radioactivity, that is 10^-5 times the strength of the strong force, and that acts over distances smaller than those between nucleons in an atomic nucleus —called also weak interaction, weak nuclear force — compare electromagnetism 2a, gravity 3a(2), strong force

First Known Use of WEAK FORCE

1968

weak force

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Fundamental interaction that underlies some forms of radioactivity and certain interactions between subatomic particles. It acts on all elementary particles that have a spin of . The particles interact weakly by exchanging particles that have integer spins. These particles have masses about 100 times that of a proton, and it is this relative massiveness that makes the weak force appear weak at low energies. For example, in radioactive decay, the weak force has a strength about 1/100,000 that of the electromagnetic force. However, it is now known that the weak force has intrinsically the same strength as the electromagnetic force, and the two are believed to be only different manifestations of a single electroweak force (see electroweak theory).

Variants of WEAK FORCE

weak force or weak nuclear force