Weak Nuclear Force: The Physics Behind Radioactive Decay

The weak nuclear force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature.
It is responsible for radioactive decay, like beta decay in unstable nuclei.
The weak force can change one type of quark into another, transforming particles.
It acts through heavy particles called the W and Z bosons.
The weak force is much weaker than the strong force, but stronger than gravity.
It has an extremely short range, less than the diameter of a proton.
Without the weak force, the Sun couldn’t shine, since fusion depends on it.
The discovery of W and Z bosons in the 1980s confirmed the weak force theory.
It plays a key role in the universe’s matter-antimatter imbalance.
The weak force links to electromagnetism in a unified framework called the electroweak theory.