Question
Deep within a nucleon, which is the stronger force between two quarks, gravity or the weak force? Why do you think so?
Final Answer
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Solution video
OpenStax College Physics for AP® Courses, Chapter 33, Problem 4 (Test Prep for AP® Courses)
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Video Transcript
This is College Physics Answers with Shaun Dychko. In order for gravity to be a noticeable force, there has to be a lot of mass you know... the only reason we experience gravity is because there's an entire planet underneath us that's keeping us stuck to the surface and it requires a mass of this scale for gravity to really be noticeable here I mean it could be, you know, quarter the size of Earth and it would still be noticeable gravity but the point being that it requires a great deal of mass for gravity to be noticeable. Now a pair of quarks will have negligible mass practically like... there's so little mass that gravity won't be significant. The weak nuclear force however this is the only distance scale where it applies is on the scale of a nucleon or nucleus and so the weak force is the one that will be stronger compared to gravity.