hi, 

so there are 4 forces right? or is it 3? well, there are a number of 
forces anyway. they all appear to have a unique nature right? and yet a 
nobel prize was awarded for unification of 2 of them, the 
electromagnetic and week forces. 


these forces have unique strengths and ranges of influence. and yet we 
see phenomenon such as nuclear electron emission and increased field 
strength and range. 


i assume the forces manifest themselves as quanta traveling at the 
speed of light. if the atomic architecture enables versatility of 
particles then perhaps the forces which they emit are versatile too. in 
this way the same force takes on different characteristics under 
different conditions. theses conditions may include proximity to matter 
and its density. 


or maybe we are trying to unify a number of entirely seperate entities. 
perhaps the best we can do is a marriage of convenience such as the 
physical binding of 2 opposite poles of a magnet. any thoughts?

Why are you risking paying $2.00 here on Google Answers for questions
that you've already posted, word for word, on Usenet for free?

aaaaaaaargh! you got me! well i was kinda hoping for some feedback. i
have no friends.

That's alright, I was just curious.

$10 - not $2.  :)

I'm not sure if all 4 have been explained under one theory yet, but I
believe M-theory explains three of them including gravity - the
weakest of the 4.  Maybe the 4th will be explained as research
continues.

So what do you guys do?  Professional physicists?  Amateurs?  Just curious...

I'm a mechanical engineer.

Grand unification is still a dream. The electro-weak theory showed
that electromagnetism (Quantum Electrodynamics) and the weak force are
different aspects of the same theory. Electrically charged particles
interact via a zero rest mass particle called the photon. Leptons with
weak charge (like the electron, muon, and the neutrinos) interact via
particles called vector bosons, Z and W, which are analogous to the
photon, but have a finite rest mass. Not long after this breakthrough,
the full theory of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) emerged. This is the
theory of the "strong" force. It is of exactly the same form as the
electo-weak theory. In this case, hadrons (like protons and neutrons)
are explained as composites of quarks, which come in several flavors
(like the leptons) and carry a "color" charge (in addition to electric
charge). A family of gluons are the bosons that mediate the force of
interaction (just like the photons of QED). While it is of the same
form as the other theory, it is MUCH more complex and difficult to
make predictions. For example, there are three different kinds of
color charge, the gluons also carry color charges and thus also affect
each other.

While beautiful, these theories suffer from having a lot of particles,
with properties like their mass and charge that cannot be explained by
the theory. It is hoped that a future Grand Unified Theory will show
how all these particles, their masses, and the strength of their
interactions can be calculated from a simple set of assumptions.

QED, Electro-Weak, and QCD are all so-called "quantum field theories".
What has been especially difficult is to bring good old gravity into
this framework. Thus gravity still has not been unified with the
others. The greatest thing about string theory is that it provides a
mathematical framework in which gravity is compatible with a quantum
field theory. Unfortunately, it is not really a theory since their are
an almost infinite number of flavors, none of which has succeeded in
predicting any experimental results. Maybe some day!