1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,640 Speaker 1: Stuff Lauren boge obam here. The four fundamental forces are 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: the most important quartet in science. So far, has anyone's 4 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: been able to prove the universe is governed by these 5 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: forces gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force. 6 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 1: But maybe this forsome isn't alone. In a Hungarian team 7 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:32,040 Speaker 1: led by physicist Attila krasno Horci reportedly discovered new evidence 8 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 1: for a fifth fundamental force, something previously unknown to science. 9 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 1: The group uploaded another paper about the subject to archive 10 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: a research database in October. While many scientists are skeptical 11 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: about these findings, the research does give us an occasion 12 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:51,280 Speaker 1: to talk about the major forces that we all take 13 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: for granted. The fab four fundamental forces are irreducible, meaning 14 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: they can't be broken down into other, more basic forces. 15 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: These are the core phenomena behind every other known type 16 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: of physical interaction. For example, friction, tension, and elasticity are 17 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: all derived from electromagnetism. And what's that you ask? Electromagnetism 18 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,960 Speaker 1: is a force that affects all positively and negatively charged particles. 19 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,960 Speaker 1: Those with opposite charges attract, while one's carrying like charges 20 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 1: repel each other. Not only does this principle keep magnets 21 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: on your fridge, but it's also the reason why solid 22 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:32,320 Speaker 1: objects are able to retain their shapes compared with electromagnetism. 23 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: Gravity is rather weak. Surprisingly enough, it's actually the weakest 24 00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: of the four fundamentals, including the so called weak force. 25 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: Will get to that one in a bit. Gravity is 26 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 1: the attraction of any two objects in the universe to 27 00:01:44,480 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: one another. Moons, dustmotes, coyotes, whatever. Everything exerts gravity on 28 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: every other thing, but at least one of the things 29 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: in question has to be pretty massive in order for 30 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: it to make much of a difference. That's why we 31 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,120 Speaker 1: don't have dust motes orbiting our heads like asteroids, and 32 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: why we don't fall into orbit of coyotes when we 33 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: encounter them. But let's turn to the appropriately named strong force. 34 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: This is what holds atomic nucleus is together even in 35 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: spite of their charged protons which are constantly trying to escape. 36 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,359 Speaker 1: And last, but not least, there's the weak force a 37 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: k a. The weak interaction. This one is the hardest 38 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,160 Speaker 1: to explain, and honestly I'm not an expert here, but 39 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: it's the force by which sub atomic particles can transform 40 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: by decaying into different particles by losing a boson, which 41 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: disintegrates into positrons and or neutrinos. This weak force fuels 42 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: certain kinds of radioactive decay, which means it's responsible for 43 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:45,800 Speaker 1: everything from medical imaging to the radiometric dating that researchers 44 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: used to determine the ages of fossils and artifacts, to 45 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:52,280 Speaker 1: the nuclear fission that occurs in the sun. So kind 46 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 1: of a big deal. Scientists have a theory that nicely 47 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: describes three of those forces, known as the Standard Model 48 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: of Physics. It's made up of various measurements in mathematical formulas. 49 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: It also breaks down elementary particles into categories and subcategories. 50 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:12,880 Speaker 1: We spoke via email with m I T. Physicist Richard Milner. 51 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,680 Speaker 1: He explained the Standard Model of Physics is the present 52 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: framework for describing the sub atomic world at all energies. 53 00:03:20,680 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 1: It was developed post World War two, and I count 54 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,280 Speaker 1: at least eighteen Nobel Prizes in physics since nineteen fifty 55 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: have been awarded for contributions to its development. Like all 56 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: good theories, the Standard Model has accurately predicted numerous scientific breakthroughs, 57 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: including the discovery of the elusive Higgs Boson particle back 58 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: in Yet it doesn't answer every question. The standard model 59 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: offers no explanation for gravity, and it hasn't brought scientists 60 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: any closer to understanding dark matter, a mysterious ingredient that 61 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: makes up about of our universe. Here's where Krasna, hor 62 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:01,119 Speaker 1: Kei and company come in. During sperariment at the Hungarian 63 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: Academy of Sciences Institute for Nuclear Research, they watched excited 64 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: brilliant eight atoms decay inside a particle accelerator. Normally, this 65 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: process releases light, which is later converted into electrons and positrons, 66 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: which are a type of sub atomic particle with a 67 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: positive charge. And sure enough, that's what happened. But then 68 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 1: things got interesting. Normally, brilliant eight decays in a predictable fashion, 69 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: yet a weirdly high number of these electrons and positrons 70 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: repelled each other at a one and forty degree angle. 71 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: To explain the surplus cresta Horkis team argued that a 72 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: never before seen particle had been formed as the atoms decayed. 73 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: By their calculations, this theoretical sub atomic body would have 74 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: a massive around seventeen million electron volts. They went ahead 75 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: and named it the X seventeen particle, and now X 76 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: seventeen is once again making the news. Recently, the same 77 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: Hungarian scientists detected an anomaly in decay examples of helium four. 78 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: According to their archive paper, an unforeseen surplus of positrons 79 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: and electrons were released, possibly because another X seventeen particle 80 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,640 Speaker 1: was created. If this mystery particle exists, it might be 81 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:19,359 Speaker 1: something very special. Maybe, just maybe it's a newfound carrier boson. 82 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: Bosons are spinning particles that probably lack internal structure. They're 83 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: known to carry forces, making them an integral part of 84 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 1: the Standard model. Under the Standard model, Milner explains forces 85 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,800 Speaker 1: take place by exchange of the carrier bosons between other 86 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: sub atomic particles. It's said each of the four fundamental 87 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:44,359 Speaker 1: forces has its own corresponding boson. The one that transports 88 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,560 Speaker 1: gravity hasn't been found yet, but the carrier bosons associated 89 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: with strong force, weak force, and electromagnetism are well documented. 90 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,360 Speaker 1: Presumably X seventeen would be the carrier boson for a 91 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 1: fifth fundamental force that we never do existed, and perhaps 92 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: said force is how related to dark matter. But we're 93 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: getting ahead of ourselves. You see, there's no hard proof 94 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,520 Speaker 1: that X seventeen exists in the first place. The European 95 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: Organization for Nuclear Research better known as CERN, has yet 96 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:15,720 Speaker 1: to find any trace of the particle, and the new 97 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 1: archive paper is still awaiting peer review and replication from 98 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:23,600 Speaker 1: other scientists. Milner and his colleagues have devised a proposal 99 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: to try to generate X seventeen particles in a scattering 100 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia. 101 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: At present, the standard model doesn't account for any new 102 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,799 Speaker 1: fundamental forces, so if the X seventeen and the fifth 103 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,479 Speaker 1: force that it allegedly carries, our real will have to 104 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,719 Speaker 1: modify the good old standard model. At any rate, it's 105 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,799 Speaker 1: clear that the sub atomic world is still rife with secrets. 106 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,479 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini and produced by 107 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radios. 108 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: Has Stuff Works. For more in this lots of other 109 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,599 Speaker 1: curious topics, visit our home planet how Stuff Works dot com, 110 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:05,839 Speaker 1: and for more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the 111 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,440 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen 112 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows