Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

What is Weak Force? Can somebody please tell me?

I know the very basic characteristics of weak force, but I don't know it in detail. Pretty much all I know is that it involves the decay of neutrons and protons. But could somebody please tell what weak force is in detail? Also, could somebody tell me if there are any books or web-pages etc. that describe weak force? I'm not a mathematical person so a non-mathematical description would be ideal.

2 Answers

Relevance
  • obelix
    Lv 5
    10 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_interaction

    remember wikipedia is always a good place to begin when you want to learn about something new online ... it's only a start though and for science topics, to understand properly, you need to red books by proper experts .... but hey, for now, keep exploring the link, go read other links below the article if you want.

  • 10 years ago

    Weak interaction (often called the weak force or sometimes the weak nuclear force), is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, alongside the strong nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. It is responsible for the radioactive decay of subatomic particles and initiates the process known as hydrogen fusion in stars. Weak interactions affect all known fermions; that is, particles whose spin (a property of all particles) is a half-integer.

    or

    Weak nuclear forces are responsible for radioactivity and also for exhibiting some peculiar symmetry features not seen with the other forces. In contrast to electromagnetic and strong forces, the strength of the weak force is different for particles and anti-particles (Charge Violation), for a scattering process and its mirror image (Parity Violation), and for a scattering process and the time reversal of that scattering process (Time Violation).

    The weak force drives radioactive decays that:

    help generate sunlight,

    enable advanced medical diagnosis and treatment,

    help determine the age of organic materials from carbon isotope abundances,

    help determine the age of the earth from uranium isotope abundances

    provide heating for the Earth and an energy source for plate tectonics, through the decays of Uranium, Thorium and Potassium.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.