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What does the weak force do?

Answer 1

The weak force mediates radioactive decay.

A neutron is made up of two down quarks and an up quark, while a proton is made up of two up quarks and a down quark. The transition between a proton and a neutron is mediated by the weak W bosons.

To convert a neutron into a proton a down quark must be converted into an up quark and a #W^-# boson. The #W^-# decays into an electron and an electron anti neutrino.

#d rarr u + W^-# #W^(-) rarr e^(-) + bar nu_e#

A proton gets converted into a neutron by via the #W^+# boson.

#u rarr d + W^+# #W^+ rarr e^+ + nu_e#

The heavier strange, charm, top, and bottom quarks go through similar processes.

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Answer 2

Hailey Alvarez

The weak force is responsible for certain types of radioactive decay, such as beta decay, and for mediating interactions between particles such as neutrinos and quarks.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.