Force force. Here the strong force acts indirectly, transmitted as gluons, which form part of the virtual pi and rho mesons, which classically transmit the nuclear force (see this topic for more). The failure of many searches for free quarks has shown that the elementary particles affected are not directly observable. This phenomenon is called color confinement. The weak force is due to the exchange of the heavy W and Z bosons. Its most familiar effect is beta decay (of neutrons in atomic nuclei) and the associated radioactivity. The word "weak" derives from the fact that the field strength is some
Elementary charge known elementary particles, including quarks, have charges that are integer multiples of "e". Therefore, one can say that the "quantum of charge" is "e". In this case, one says that the "elementary charge" is three times as large as the "quantum of charge". On the other hand, all "isolatable" particles have charges that are integer multiples of "e". (Quarks cannot be isolated: they only exist in collective states like protons that have total charges that are integer multiples of "e".) Therefore, one can say that the "quantum of charge" is "e", with the proviso that quarks are not to be