I can use one of the four fundamental forces of nature, to defy the other, right here,
right now.
Boom.
[uses balloon and sticks it to self] TAKE THAT GRAVITY.
ELECTROMAGNETISM FOREVER.
Howdy boson buddies, this is DNews, I'm Trace!
There are four fundamental forces in the universe.
You know them, you love them, you're feeling some right now: those are gravity, electromagnetism,
weak nuclear and strong nuclear.
Each of these forces (mostly) fit into the standard model of physics, the rulebook by
which physicists explain our universe.
Gravity is a bit…
weird.
By the way, if you don't know what those Fundamental Forces are about, you should probably watch
this video.
Recently, a new discovery out of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences got the media abuzz about
a possible fifth fundamental force.
But, according to their paper in Physical Review Letters they didn't really discover
a new force.
Nope, what they found was *drum roll* an anomaly.4 The team was looking for "dark photons,"5
which sounds like an awesome Norwegian Death Metal band, but in reality, it was a theorized
subatomic particle related to dark matter.
Dark matter is scientists' name for matter that doesn't interact with the normal stuff
the universe seems to be made of -- you, me, the rock, the tree, the sun, and so on.
The researchers said, their data anomaly might be a "protophobic X boson" that's 30 times
more massive than an electron.
Later, in a review, scientists at the University of California, Irvine said this might indicate
there is a fifth fundamental force of nature that no one had ever detected before.
But first, lemme explain.
Bosons are a group of subatomic particles, theorized by Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose;
boson for Bose.
The science is a bit complex, but essentially bosons are particles which can exist in multiple
states, and spin with an integer or zero…
Don't worry about it, but a good example would be the photon: the particles that make up
light, which can also be waves -- multiple states.
Look, it's not super important to understand, just picture a tiny part of an atom.
Each of these bosons interacts in some way, which is how we can detect their presence.
For example, the photon interacts with electrons (which are negatively charged) and protons
(which are positively charged), right?
That's all part of the electromagnetic power of the photon.
Physicists believe each fundamental force of nature has a corresponding subatomic particle.
As I mentioned, the "photon" carries electromagnetic force, strong nuclear force is carried by
the "gluon," weak nuclear force is carried by "W and Z" bosons, and (theoretically) gravity
would be carried by the "graviton."
Although, admittedly, scientists haven't found that one yet.
So, if this new boson discovery is confirmed, (and it hasn't been yet), it would show a
force that interacts with electrons (which, again, are negatively charged) and neutrons
(no charge at all)!
This is super strange!
The lead researcher from the UC Irvine team speculates that this could be the indication
of a "grander, more fundamental force" but it could also be the key to finally detecting
"dark matter."
Which, again, is matter in the universe that haven't been able to detect, because it doesn't
seem to interact with anything!
This "protophobic X boson" interacts very lightly, and in unexpected ways22, and that
could physicists to start looking for interactions that they would have easily missed otherwise!
A new force could add more chapters to the Standard Model of Physics.
Of course, we don't know yet.
Other scientists at European Organization for Nuclear Research are looking to confirm
these findings, and some scientists are skeptical of the findings ALTOGETHER!!
So more research is DEFINITELY needed.
Practically speaking, we have no idea what confirmation of this could prove.
In 600 BC, the Greeks discovered if you rub animal fur on a bit of amber you'd get a strange
attraction.
Now we know it's static electricity, but it would be centuries before we'd learned to
master electromagnetism.
These new chapters of science have to start somewhere, and maybe, just maybe, this was
it.
Want to know how they smash atoms together to find new particles?
I went to the Large Hadron Collider and got a tour!!
IT WAS SO COOL.
Here's how it works.