WEBVTT - Could There Be a Fifth Fundamental Force?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren boge obam here. The four fundamental forces are

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<v Speaker 1>the most important quartet in science. So far, has anyone's

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<v Speaker 1>been able to prove the universe is governed by these

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<v Speaker 1>forces gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force.

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<v Speaker 1>But maybe this forsome isn't alone. In a Hungarian team

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<v Speaker 1>led by physicist Attila krasno Horci reportedly discovered new evidence

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<v Speaker 1>for a fifth fundamental force, something previously unknown to science.

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<v Speaker 1>The group uploaded another paper about the subject to archive

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<v Speaker 1>a research database in October. While many scientists are skeptical

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<v Speaker 1>about these findings, the research does give us an occasion

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<v Speaker 1>to talk about the major forces that we all take

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<v Speaker 1>for granted. The fab four fundamental forces are irreducible, meaning

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<v Speaker 1>they can't be broken down into other, more basic forces.

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<v Speaker 1>These are the core phenomena behind every other known type

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<v Speaker 1>of physical interaction. For example, friction, tension, and elasticity are

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<v Speaker 1>all derived from electromagnetism. And what's that you ask? Electromagnetism

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<v Speaker 1>is a force that affects all positively and negatively charged particles.

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<v Speaker 1>Those with opposite charges attract, while one's carrying like charges

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<v Speaker 1>repel each other. Not only does this principle keep magnets

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<v Speaker 1>on your fridge, but it's also the reason why solid

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<v Speaker 1>objects are able to retain their shapes compared with electromagnetism.

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<v Speaker 1>Gravity is rather weak. Surprisingly enough, it's actually the weakest

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<v Speaker 1>of the four fundamentals, including the so called weak force.

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<v Speaker 1>Will get to that one in a bit. Gravity is

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<v Speaker 1>the attraction of any two objects in the universe to

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<v Speaker 1>one another. Moons, dustmotes, coyotes, whatever. Everything exerts gravity on

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<v Speaker 1>every other thing, but at least one of the things

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<v Speaker 1>in question has to be pretty massive in order for

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<v Speaker 1>it to make much of a difference. That's why we

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<v Speaker 1>don't have dust motes orbiting our heads like asteroids, and

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<v Speaker 1>why we don't fall into orbit of coyotes when we

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<v Speaker 1>encounter them. But let's turn to the appropriately named strong force.

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<v Speaker 1>This is what holds atomic nucleus is together even in

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<v Speaker 1>spite of their charged protons which are constantly trying to escape.

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<v Speaker 1>And last, but not least, there's the weak force a

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<v Speaker 1>k a. The weak interaction. This one is the hardest

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<v Speaker 1>to explain, and honestly I'm not an expert here, but

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<v Speaker 1>it's the force by which sub atomic particles can transform

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<v Speaker 1>by decaying into different particles by losing a boson, which

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<v Speaker 1>disintegrates into positrons and or neutrinos. This weak force fuels

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<v Speaker 1>certain kinds of radioactive decay, which means it's responsible for

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<v Speaker 1>everything from medical imaging to the radiometric dating that researchers

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<v Speaker 1>used to determine the ages of fossils and artifacts, to

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<v Speaker 1>the nuclear fission that occurs in the sun. So kind

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<v Speaker 1>of a big deal. Scientists have a theory that nicely

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<v Speaker 1>describes three of those forces, known as the Standard Model

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<v Speaker 1>of Physics. It's made up of various measurements in mathematical formulas.

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<v Speaker 1>It also breaks down elementary particles into categories and subcategories.

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<v Speaker 1>We spoke via email with m I T. Physicist Richard Milner.

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<v Speaker 1>He explained the Standard Model of Physics is the present

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<v Speaker 1>framework for describing the sub atomic world at all energies.

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<v Speaker 1>It was developed post World War two, and I count

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<v Speaker 1>at least eighteen Nobel Prizes in physics since nineteen fifty

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<v Speaker 1>have been awarded for contributions to its development. Like all

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<v Speaker 1>good theories, the Standard Model has accurately predicted numerous scientific breakthroughs,

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<v Speaker 1>including the discovery of the elusive Higgs Boson particle back

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<v Speaker 1>in Yet it doesn't answer every question. The standard model

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<v Speaker 1>offers no explanation for gravity, and it hasn't brought scientists

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<v Speaker 1>any closer to understanding dark matter, a mysterious ingredient that

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<v Speaker 1>makes up about of our universe. Here's where Krasna, hor

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<v Speaker 1>Kei and company come in. During sperariment at the Hungarian

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<v Speaker 1>Academy of Sciences Institute for Nuclear Research, they watched excited

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<v Speaker 1>brilliant eight atoms decay inside a particle accelerator. Normally, this

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<v Speaker 1>process releases light, which is later converted into electrons and positrons,

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<v Speaker 1>which are a type of sub atomic particle with a

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<v Speaker 1>positive charge. And sure enough, that's what happened. But then

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<v Speaker 1>things got interesting. Normally, brilliant eight decays in a predictable fashion,

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<v Speaker 1>yet a weirdly high number of these electrons and positrons

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<v Speaker 1>repelled each other at a one and forty degree angle.

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<v Speaker 1>To explain the surplus cresta Horkis team argued that a

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<v Speaker 1>never before seen particle had been formed as the atoms decayed.

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<v Speaker 1>By their calculations, this theoretical sub atomic body would have

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<v Speaker 1>a massive around seventeen million electron volts. They went ahead

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<v Speaker 1>and named it the X seventeen particle, and now X

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen is once again making the news. Recently, the same

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<v Speaker 1>Hungarian scientists detected an anomaly in decay examples of helium four.

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<v Speaker 1>According to their archive paper, an unforeseen surplus of positrons

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<v Speaker 1>and electrons were released, possibly because another X seventeen particle

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<v Speaker 1>was created. If this mystery particle exists, it might be

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<v Speaker 1>something very special. Maybe, just maybe it's a newfound carrier boson.

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<v Speaker 1>Bosons are spinning particles that probably lack internal structure. They're

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<v Speaker 1>known to carry forces, making them an integral part of

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<v Speaker 1>the Standard model. Under the Standard model, Milner explains forces

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<v Speaker 1>take place by exchange of the carrier bosons between other

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<v Speaker 1>sub atomic particles. It's said each of the four fundamental

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<v Speaker 1>forces has its own corresponding boson. The one that transports

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<v Speaker 1>gravity hasn't been found yet, but the carrier bosons associated

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<v Speaker 1>with strong force, weak force, and electromagnetism are well documented.

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<v Speaker 1>Presumably X seventeen would be the carrier boson for a

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<v Speaker 1>fifth fundamental force that we never do existed, and perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>said force is how related to dark matter. But we're

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<v Speaker 1>getting ahead of ourselves. You see, there's no hard proof

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<v Speaker 1>that X seventeen exists in the first place. The European

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<v Speaker 1>Organization for Nuclear Research better known as CERN, has yet

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<v Speaker 1>to find any trace of the particle, and the new

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<v Speaker 1>archive paper is still awaiting peer review and replication from

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<v Speaker 1>other scientists. Milner and his colleagues have devised a proposal

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<v Speaker 1>to try to generate X seventeen particles in a scattering

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<v Speaker 1>experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia.

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<v Speaker 1>At present, the standard model doesn't account for any new

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<v Speaker 1>fundamental forces, so if the X seventeen and the fifth

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<v Speaker 1>force that it allegedly carries, our real will have to

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<v Speaker 1>modify the good old standard model. At any rate, it's

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<v Speaker 1>clear that the sub atomic world is still rife with secrets.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini and produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radios.

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<v Speaker 1>Has Stuff Works. For more in this lots of other

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